Georgian NGO sues Russia at ECtHR
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, August 16
A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Transparency International Georgia (TI), has stated they would sue Russia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) over violations the country has carried out on Georgian territory since the Russia-Georgia in 2008
Head of the NGO Eka Gigauri stated the complaint would be backed by 11 cases when the human rights of Georgian citizens “were blatantly violated” through the occupant country’s actions following the short but brutal war.
“This time we have 11 claimants. However, if we won, and we have a chance, all those will benefit will be those who have been affected by Russia’s illegal activities on Georgian soil,” Gigauri said.
“In the complaint we have outlined that after the 2008 War, through its creeping occupation, Russia has violated the property rights of Georgian citizens, illegally deprived them of their access to agricultural lands, cemeteries, religious buildings and similar, which is a violation of fundamental human rights guaranteed by the International Convention on Human Rights,” Gigauri said.
TI thanked Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all relevant state bodies for supporting them in the process of drafting the complaint.
For 2016, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared the second Quarterly Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Regions of Georgia. The Report covers the period from April to June 2016 and reveals human rights violations in the occupied territories of Georgia during this period.
“It should be emphasized that gross violations of human rights, including arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary detention, restrictions of freedom of movement and mass infringement on property rights as well as restrictions on the right to receive education in the native language had been reported from the occupied territories in the indicated period,” the Ministry stated last week.
In January this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorised an investigation into possible war crimes committed during a conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008.
The Russia-Georgia war lasted five days, and caused 228 Georgian civilians, 170 soldiers and 14 police officers to lose their lives.
The war displaced 192,000 people in Georgia. Many were able to return to their homes after the war but as of May 2014 more than 20,200 people remain displaced.
