Alexander Klimchuk and Giga Chikhladze
were killed in South Ossetia
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Giga Chikhladze

Alexander Klimchuk

Georgian photographer Alexander Klimchuk and his fellow Giga Chikhladze were killed while covering the conflict in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. We are deeply shocked and mourn the death of our good friends and fellow journalists. We will never forget them.
With two more deaths, four journalists have been reported killed since fighting erupted between Georgia and Russia in August 2008. It is an extraordinarily high toll for a conflict that has lasted less than a week. At least six other journalists have been injured and two more are missing, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.Photographer Alexander Klimchuk and journalist Giga Chikhladze died after their vehicle came under attack at a roadblock in Tskhinvali. Alexander was the head of the Georgian photo agency Caucasus Images. Chikhladze was working as a reporter for Russian Newsweek.Alexander was on assignment for the Russian news agency Itar Tass.

Alexander was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1981. After graduating from college he worked as a writer for several Russian newspapers and later as a freelance photographer for several international photo agencies, including epa and Polaris Images.

Giga Chikhladze was on assignment for Newsweek. He was born in 1978. Giga worked as a journalist for numerous local and international media outlets, including Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Eurasianet.Org, Civil Georgia, and many others. He leaves behind his wife and two little children, Sophie and Luca.