TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – Europe’s leading human rights court on Thursday held Russia responsible for a series of violations in Georgia’s breakaway areas following the 2008 Russia – Georgia war.
Georgia praised the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights as a major victory.
President Salome Zurabishvili described the ruling as “historic”, noting that Georgia “was recognized as a victim of this war and that it is a great achievement for our country, our society, our history and our future”.
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia also described the ruling as an important step, saying that “the case against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights ended with Georgia’s victory.”
The war in August 2008 erupted when Georgian troops unsuccessfully tried to regain control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia in Moscow, sending Russia troops to send the Georgian army into five days of fighting.
After the war, Moscow established military bases in South Ossetia and another disruptive Georgian province, Abkhazia, and recognized them as independent states, while most of the world still considered them part of Georgia.
In his case against Russia, Georgia accused him of violating the European Convention on Human Rights during and after the war, but the ECHR only accepted the Georgian complaints about the post-war period.
The court in Strasbourg has ruled that Russia exercised effective control over Georgia’s separatist regions after the hostilities and was responsible for ill-treatment and torture against Georgian prisoners of war, arbitrary detention of Georgians and ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ of 160 detained Georgian civilians. August 2008 he was detained for more than two weeks in a press prison.
It also held Russia responsible for preventing violent ethnic Georgians from returning to the separatist regions after the conflict. The court ordered Moscow to investigate human rights violations during the hostilities and in their aftermath.
Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani hailed the ECHR’s ruling as an unprecedented international victory for the Georgian state.
The Russian Ministry of Justice has expressed disagreement with some of the court’s conclusions blaming Russia for the incidents in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, “despite the fact that the direct involvement of Russian troops has never been proven in them.”
At the same time, the ministry stressed the decision of the ECHR that the Georgian complaints over the period of fighting were inadmissible.
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Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.