TBILISI/JAN. 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Nearly 13 years after the case was originally submitted, the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Russia was responsible for crimes committed against Georgian citizens during a five-day war for control of South Ossetia in 2008.
It said that towards the end of the war in August 2008, Russian forces had been in control of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, when Georgian citizens were rounded up from their homes and kept prisoners in inhumane conditions in the basements of official buildings.
“The conditions of detention of some 160 Georgian civilians and the humiliating acts to which they had been exposed had caused them undeniable suffering and had to be regarded as inhuman and degrading treatment, the court said.
The court did rule, though, that at the start of the war, which ran between Aug. 8 – 12, South Ossetian militia was in control of Tskhinvali and Russia could not be held responsible for alleged war crimes during the first three days of the conflict.
Georgia lost the war, which the Kremlin said was started by the then Georgian President Mikheil Saakahsvili, but has since worked to discredit Russia.
Georgian politicians said that the ECHR ruling was an important win. In a tweet, Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia said that the ECHR’s ruling was “one of the most important days in the history of Georgia”. It was probably no coincidence, either, that as the verdict was announced Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili was touring Brussels in another drive to build support for Georgia’s entry to the EU and NATO.
Russia, which is a member of EHRC, has said that the findings were biased and that it does not recognise them.
— ENDS
— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
