Upside down: Ukraine screamed about Georgia's victory over Russia in the ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights has recognized Georgia's accusations against Russia in connection with the events of August 8-12, 2008 in South Ossetia and Abkhazia as unfounded.

This was reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent on the website of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

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Thus, on January 21, the decision of the Grand Chamber of the ECHR on the interstate complaint “Georgia v. Russia (II)” was published.

It is indicated that after an almost 12-year process, the ECHR ruled that Russia cannot be held responsible under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for incidents that occurred during the repulse by Russian military personnel of an attack by the Georgian army on a peacekeeping contingent and the local civilian population during the events in South Ossetia.

According to Russian Deputy Minister of Justice Mikhail Galperin, Georgia tried to prove that the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights applies not only in peacetime, but also during hostilities, which contradicts the foundations of international humanitarian law.

According to him, the Russian side was able to convince the judges that the legal assessment of the events of August 2008 was not within their jurisdiction.

“Also, the ECHR did not establish a single case of violation of the rights of the civilian population by Russian military personnel during the events of August 2008,” the deputy minister said.

At the same time, the ministry noted that it does not agree with the conclusions of the ECHR, according to which the Russian side is held responsible for the incidents that occurred after August 12 in the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, although the court could not establish the involvement of Russian military personnel in them.

True, the ex-representative of the “President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” lawyer Boris Babin, has a different opinion.

“Another international defeat for an aggressor state. The Russian Federation as a state is once again recognized as a murderer and executioner at the highest level,” the ex-official states in his blog.

“This decision of the ECHR, in particular within the framework of the legal position of the court, will be of exceptional importance for the subsequent decision “Ukraine versus Russia” on Donbass. It requires urgent analysis by domestic scientists and practitioners. But it is already obvious that the issue of proving the facts and circumstances by the European Court in such cases is not an easy task.

This further emphasizes the significance of the victory over the Russian Federation in the “Crimean case” in the ECHR, because almost the entire position of Ukraine was irrefutably proven in court there,” Babin believes.

At the same time, the telegram channel ECHR-INFO indicates in detail what exactly the ECHR decided on Georgia’s claim, which refutes Babin’s words.

– by 11 votes to 6 – that the events that took place during the active phase of hostilities (from 8 to 12 August 2008) do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation – in the “context of chaos” that occurred in the territory of hostilities, not a single state did not exercise “effective control” over the territory in question;

– by 16 votes to 1 – that during the period from August 12 to October 10, 2008, Russia exercised “effective control” over South Ossetia, Abkhazia and the “buffer zone”;

– by 16 votes to 1, that during this period there was an “administrative practice” of killing civilians, arson and robberies of houses in the Georgian villages of South Ossetia and the “buffer zone” and the Russian Federation is responsible for this practice (violation of Article 2, 3 and 8 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention);

– unanimously – that the detention of 160 Georgian civilians (most of whom were elderly, and a third were women) by South Ossetian troops in Tskhinvali and their detention between 10 and 27 August 2008 in the basement of the “South Ossetian Ministry of Internal Affairs”:

– falls under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation,

– violates Art. 3 of the Convention, since the conditions of their detention and treatment were inhuman and degrading,

– violates Art. 5 of the Convention, since their detention was arbitrary (the Russian authorities' argument that they were kept in the basement for their own safety was rejected);

– unanimously – that the Georgian prisoners of war captured in Tskhinvali from August 8 to 17, 2008 by South Ossetian troops were under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation (although the direct involvement of the Russian military in these actions did not take place in all cases) and

– 16 votes to 1 – that administrative practice of torture took place in relation to these prisoners of war (violation of Article 3 of the Convention);

- By 16 votes to 1 - that ethnic Georgians should not be allowed to return to their homes located in South Ossetia or Abkhazia,

– took place at least before the date of the hearing in the Grand Chamber, that is, before 23 May 2018,

– is subject to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation during this entire period,

– constitutes a violation of Art. 2 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention (freedom of movement);

- unanimously - that there was not sufficient evidence provided that in the specified territory there was a violation of the right to education guaranteed by Art. 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention (the applicant Government complained about the existence of administrative practices of destruction and looting of public schools and libraries and intimidation of ethnic Georgian teachers and pupils)

- unanimously - that the Russian Federation had a procedural obligation to conduct an adequate and effective investigation not only of the events that occurred after August 12, 2008, but also of the events that occurred during the active phase of hostilities (8-12 August 2008);

– 16 votes to 1 – that Russia did not conduct such an investigation (violation of Article 2 of the Convention in its procedural aspect);

– 16 votes to 1 – that the Russian Federation did not fulfill its obligation to facilitate the effective consideration of the case by refusing to provide documents on military operations with reference to the fact that they constitute state secrets (the Russian authorities also did not offer any options for cooperation that would keep some of the information secret );

- unanimously - that the issue of fair compensation should be decided later.