In connection with the August 2008 war, Georgia won another victory in the Strasbourg court. The European Court of Human Rights has published its judgement on 370 Russian-coordinated individual complaints filed against Georgia by residents of the Tskhinvali region and declared them inadmissible. This was announced by the Minister of Justice at the briefing held at the Ministry of Justice today.

"The European Court shared the arguments of the Georgian side that the allegations were manifestly ill-founded, as evidence of a minimum standard could not be submitted to substantiate the applicants' claims,” said ​​Rati Bregadze.

The Strasbourg court ruled that the Tskhinvali region was actively bombed by the Russian Federation during the war and that the Georgian Armed Forces did not exercise control over the Tskhinvali region and the surrounding area. Therefore, it is impossible to attribute any violation to Georgia.

This decision reaffirms that the serious violations committed against the population of Georgia during the August war will be attributed to specific representatives of the Russian Federation and the separatist regimes.

According to today's court ruling, the Russian-coordinated complaints of the people living in the Tskhinvali region against Georgia over the active hostilities during the August 2008 war and all disputes over this issue have been settled.

The Minister of Justice pointed out another circumstance, namely: after today's decision, only 154 complaints against Georgia will be considered in the Strasbourg court, which is the best indicator for Georgia during its membership in the Council of Europe. For comparison - in 2009-2012, the European Court processed from 3,000 to 4,000 complaints against Georgia.

"The sharp decline in appeals to the Strasbourg court is a result of the reforms implemented by the Georgian government in recent years - Georgian citizens can effectively protect their rights within the country," said Rati Bregadze.

As of 2022, such a small number of complaints are being dealt only against Scandinavia and several Western European countries, as well as very small states with minimal populations; Among the Central and Eastern European countries, Georgia is in the top four, next to the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia, and, in total, is ahead of 25 Council of Europe (including 14 EU) countries.

For information: More than 3,300 complaints were filed against Georgia under the coordination of Russia in 2008-2009, however, based on the evidence and legal positions submitted by the Government of Georgia, the vast majority of complaints were dismissed or declared inadmissible because no evidence submitted to the European Court would confirm a violation of any article of the European Convention.

Today's ruling is another victory for Georgia in the international court against the Russian Federation. As it is known to the public, on January 21, 2021, in the August war case, the Strasbourg court found a massive violation of several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights by Russia and confirmed that the Tskhinvali region and Abkhazia are occupied by Russia. At the same time, on March 10, 2022, Georgia won another victory when the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague issued arrest warrants against three people for torturing and ill-treating Georgian civilians during the August war.

The Ministry of Justice of Georgia will actively pursue the protection of state interests in international courts.

"The decision of the Strasbourg war on the 2008 war confirms once and for all that the truth is on the side of Georgia and together we will definitely celebrate this great victory," said Rati Bregadze.