Georgia says International Court of Justice verdict on Russia-Georgia war-related case ‘historic’

The Georgian Justice Ministry says that the recent judgment of the International Court of Justice, to issue an arrest warrant for three people in the case of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, is historic.

“This decision once again confirms that serious violations were committed against the population of Georgia during the August war by the representatives of the Russian Federation and de facto authorities,” said the ministry.

“Along with the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights delivered back in January 2021 on the war case, this is another big victory for Georgia,” stated the ministry.

The European Court of Human Rights said in January 2021 that Russia violated the following articles during the war:

• The right to life (Article 2).
• Prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 3).
• The right to liberty and security (Article 5).
• The right to protection of private and family life (Article 8).
• Protection of property (Article 1 of Additional Protocol 1);
• Freedom of movement (Article 2 of Protocol No. 4).

According to the recent judgement by the Hague court,  in the episode of torture and ill-treatment of Georgian civilian prisoners during the August war, the court prosecutor issued arrest warrants against three defendants. Mikhail Mindzaev (the so-called Minister of Internal Affairs of the Tskhinvali region during the mentioned period); Hamlet Guchmazov (head of the pre-trial detention isolator of the so-called Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Tskhinvali region during the mentioned period); David Sanakoev (so-called ombudsman in the mentioned period).

The investigation also revealed the role of the late Vyacheslav Borisov (Major General and Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Russian Federation at the time), who, according to the investigation, deliberately facilitated the above-mentioned crimes.