The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ordered Russia to pay Georgia approximately 130 million euros in the case of the August 2008 war.
According to the court decision in Georgia v. Russia (II), Article 41 of the European Convention on Human Rights (just satisfaction) is acceptable for crimes committed against the civilian population in the occupied Georgian villages of Tskhinvali and the “buffer zone”.
The crimes include the killing of civilians by separatist forces, arson and looting of homes, humiliation and inhumane treatment, torture of prisoners of war, and resistance to the return of displaced persons to their homes. Russia has also not fulfilled its procedural obligation to conduct an adequate and effective investigation of crimes committed during an active conflict or after a ceasefire.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered Russia to pay Georgia a total of 129,827,500 euros.
Compensation was distributed as follows:
Russia was ordered to pay Georgia 3,250,000 euros over the next three months in connection with the administrative practice of killing citizens in villages and the “buffer zone” of the occupied Tskhinvali region and the failure to fulfill the procedural obligation to adequately and effectively investigate the murders of fifty people.
Russia was ordered to pay 2,697,500 euros over the next three months for non-pecuniary damage inflicted on at least 166 victims, including inhuman and degrading treatment, illegal arrests, etc., that took place in the basement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of South Ossetia between 10 to 27 August 2008.
Russia has been ordered to pay Georgia 640,000 euros over the next three months for at least 16 victims of the administrative practice of torturing Georgian prisoners of war by separatist forces in Tskhinvali between 8 and 17 August 2008.
Russia has been ordered to pay Georgia €115,000,000 over the next three months for preventing at least 23,000 victims from returning to their homes in the occupied Tskhinvali region and Abkhazia.
Russia is ordered to pay Georgia 8,240,000 euros over the next three months for damages caused to at least 412 people as a result of the failure of the respondent state to adequately and effectively investigate deaths during the active phase of the war.
On December 19, 2022, the International Criminal Court in The Hague concluded its investigation into the crimes committed during the August war (from July 1 to October 10, 2008) in the context of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The prosecutor in the case, Karim Khan, noted that the decision to end the investigation phase was made for the first time in the 20-year history of the Hague court. According to him, during the investigation the department examined all the evidence provided by the parties to the conflict regarding the alleged crimes.
In the summer of 2022, the court issued warrants for the arrest of three former South Ossetian officials in connection with the identification of their guilt in the context of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
According to the International Criminal Court, these individuals are responsible for unlawful deprivation of liberty, torture and inhuman treatment, humiliation of human dignity, hostage-taking and illegal displacement of civilians.
On January 21, 2021, the court announced the final decision in the August war case, finding that Russia is responsible for violating six articles of the European Convention on Human Rights against Georgian citizens, including violation of the right to life, torture, burning and destruction of private property.
