'Tbilisi pretends to have won the case' – Abkhazia on 2008 war ECHR ruling

“Georgia and its Western partners like to pretend that they have achieved some kind of unprecedented historic victory”, the authorities in Sukhum said while commenting on the final ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on the Russia-Georgia case concerning the August 2008 armed conflict in South Ossetia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia responded to the statement of the head of the European Parliament delegation on relations with the South Caucasus, Marina Kaljuran, in which she called on the Russian Federation to “fulfill its international obligations and withdraw official recognition of Abkhazia”.

“The final ruling of the court turned out to be far from what Tbilisi anticipated. However, Georgia and its Western partners still pretend that they have achieved some kind of unprecedented historical victory”, said the Foreign Ministry of Abkhazia.

Georgia celebrates ECHR’s verdict in 2008 August War suit against Russia

The European Court of Human Rights established Russia’s responsibility for almost all facts of violations of the rights of Georgian citizens in the conflict zone since August 12, 2008

Sukhum draws attention to the fact that the case “was deliberated on in the absence of the representatives of the countries, that were directly involved in the August 2008 events – the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia.”

“The decision of the ECHR itself was made in the same dubious way. Needless to say, the practice of passing such ‘court verdicts’ casts doubt on the objectivity and impartiality of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights”, the statement added.

• The 2008 war over South Ossetia: How it all happened
• How to build an Abkhaz-Georgian dialogue and should it be built at all – discussions in Abkhazia
• “We played football with Ossetians in that field” a report from a divided village

Despite the complaint, after representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia were barred from participation in this trial, some articles of the final verdict appear acceptable for the Abkhaz authorities.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia highlighted that:

• The ECHR has established that the Russian Federation cannot be held accountable under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for incidents that occurred during the active phase of the August 2008 war

• The court could not satisfy Georgia’s claim related to the “invasion” of the territory of South Ossetia by the Russian armed forces on August 7, 2008

• Georgia failed to prove that the European Convention on Human Rights should be applied both during peacetime and during the active phase of the conflict. It has been recognized that the legal assessment of the actions of the Russian armed forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia on August 8-12, 2008 is outside the jurisdiction of European judges

• The ECHR could not identify a single case of violation of the rights of the civilian population by the armed forces of the Russian Federation during the events of August 2008.

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