The verdict issued by the ECHR on the claim of Georgia referring the alleged human rights infringements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia were not left without attention.
It is regrettable to observe that international justice became an object to political manipulations and this is already being done openly. Even recognition of the admissibility of consideration of the application “Georgia against Russia” by international court is a crime itself, since it was based on a deliberate cynical lie.
The targeted genocide of the people of South Ossetia, the murders of thousands of civilians, the attack on Russian peacekeeping forces, thousands of dismissals of claims of the South Ossetian residents, whose lives had been put at risk in August 2008 did not become a subject for international investigation. Instead of criminal prosecution of real criminals the Strasbourg Court accepted for consideration Georgia’s claim, thus believing that Georgia had caused too little damage to the applicants from South Ossetia in August 2008.
Such a far-from-reality interpretation of the events will highly unlikely contribute to efforts aimed at achieving sustainable peace in the region and building trust in international courts.
Georgia still hasn’t pleaded guilty of the attack on South Ossetia in August 2008. And this is despite the conclusions of the EU International Fact-Finding Mission, headed by Heidi Tagliavini, who in her report clearly identified the aggressor responsible for the outbreak of the hostilities.
The Republic of South Ossetia is not “a Russian-backed breakaway region of Georgia”, but an independent legal state formed by the will of the people in accordance with all the principles and norms of international law.
We believe that the policy of connivance, leniency and double standards is criminal and unacceptable. We call on the European Court to be guided by the generally recognized principles and norms of international law, instead of distortion and misrepresentation of facts.
April 9, Tskhinval 2024