Justice Ministry announces new deal with International Criminal Court
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, July 28
Georgia’s Minister of Justice has signed a cooperation agreement with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which envisages deeper cooperation and introducing more effective mechanisms for the court to carry out its mandate on the territory of Georgia.
“Through signing the agreement, Georgia once again confirms its full support to the court to investigate the crimes committed during the Russia-Georgia 2008 war,” Georgia’s Ministry of Justice stated.
The Ministry stressed that the investigations should lead to adequate punishments for Georgians’ ethnic cleansing and torture and inhumane treatment to prisoners of war.
The ICC has been investigating the crimes committed over the course of the 2008 war since January 27, 2016.
The ICC, governed by the Rome Statute, is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.
Through the Russia-Georgia war of 2008, Georgia lost about 20 percent of its total territory. Today, the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) still remain under Russian control.
Hundreds of thousands of Georgians were forced from their homes, and locals living at the so-called Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) continue to have their rights violated on a daily basis.
Russian official agencies claim that the war was entirely Georgia’s fault.
The Russia-Georgia war lasted five days, and following this armed conflict 228 Georgian civilians, 170 soldiers and 14 police officers had lost 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.
