ICC pre-trial chamber issues arrest warrants against de facto Tskhinvali officials in 2008 Georgia-Russia war case
In comments on the ruling, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia highlighted the development as “another great success” for the country in international courts and noted the arrest warrants would be sent to “all relevant states” to ensure detention of the three persons and their submission to the ICC. menarights.org
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The pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday issued arrest warrants for three former high-ranking officials in the de facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, in a decision that follows a 2021 European Court of Human Rights ruling over their human rights violations during the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia in the region.
In a move that follows the ECHR ruling from January 2021, arrest warrants by the tribunal have been issued against Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the de facto Tskhinvali regime, who served on the position between 2005 and October 31, 2008, as well as Gamlet Guchmazov, who held the position of the Head of the Preliminary Detention Facility of the de facto Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region during the war, and David Georgiyevich Sanakoev, the Presidential Representative for Human Rights of the Tskhinvali region, who also served as the Ombudsman during the war.
The individuals are accused of crimes including unlawful confinement, torture, inhumane treatment, violation of personal dignity, hostage-taking and unlawful transfer during the conflict. The Court ruling notes “gravest war crimes” to have been committed during the occupation of the region carried out by Russia.
The investigation also established the guilt of Vyacheslav Borisov, a Major General in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Deputy Commander of the Airborne Forces, who is now deceased.
In comments on the ruling, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia highlighted the development as “another great success” for the country in international courts and noted the arrest warrants would be sent to “all relevant states” to ensure detention of the three persons and their submission to the ICC.
The state body said it had been actively involved in obtaining and sending “hundreds” of pieces of evidence, backed by a “strong” Georgian legal evidence, to the Hague tribunal.
The “truth” about the 2008 Russia-Georgia war has been confirmed in international courts through Georgia winning legal battles against Russia, Archil Talakvadze, the Georgian Parliament Vice Speaker, said in reaction to the European Court of Human Rights decision on inadmissibility of complaints by residents living in the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) on Thursday.
The International Criminal Court in Hague has issued arrest warrants against three de facto officials of Georgia's Russian-occupied breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region in a case of torture and ill-treatment of Georgian civilians during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, the Georgian Justice Ministry announced earlier today.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has begun considering a total of 59 individual complaints against Russia over the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, which left tens of thousands displaced from their homes in the now-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) announced on Tuesday.
Georgia has won the 2008 war case against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The court released its judgement earlier today which says that Russia violated several articles of the European Convention on Human rights during the conflict and carried out ethnic cleansing of Georgians. The court said that Russia is carrying out an effective control of Georgia’s Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions and is responsible for the violation of human rights of Georgian citizens.
Georgia has a 5,000-year history of existence and no-one can rewrite it, Archil Talakvadze, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said on Tuesday in response to a now-deleted post published on a social media channel of Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev.
The Council of Europe’s committee of ministers “strongly called” on Russia to submit a “full-fledged” action plan for the implementation of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 2021, to start taking effective steps to eliminate the main basis of the violations, continuous occupation, and to prevent the recurrence of human rights violations, the Georgian justice ministry announced on Saturday.