From the MT/AFP:
“Court
Condemns Russia for Violating Human Rights After 2008 Georgia War”
The European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that Russia committed a series
of rights violations, including torture and preventing people returning to
their homes, in the wake of its 2008 war against Georgia. The five-day conflict
in August 2008 between Russia and the pro-Western Georgian government ended
with Russian troops stationed in the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, which Moscow then declared as independent Georgia had accused Russia at the ECHR of
breaching the European Convention on Human Rights in the active phase of the
conflict and its aftermath, with the court ruling that only the complaint
regarding the aftermath was admissible. But it ruled against Russia for a
series of violations in the weeks after the conflict.
In Tbilisi,
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili hailed the ruling as a "victory for
the whole of Georgia." "The [Georgian] state is recognized as a
victim of this war and it is a great achievement for our country, our society,
our history and for the future," she said. "It is the basis on which we must build
our future and unity," she added. In its verdict, the court said that some
160 detained Georgian civilians had been subject to "humiliating acts
which had caused them suffering and had to be regarded as inhuman and degrading
treatment," and that Georgian prisoners had been subjected to "arbitrary
detention." It also found "that there had been an administrative
practice... as regards the acts of torture of which the Georgian prisoners of
war had been victims." It ruled that Georgian nationals had been prevented
from returning to South Ossetia or Abkhazia and this fell within Russia's
responsibility. Russia now had an obligation "to carry out an adequate and
effective investigation" into the events. Moscow's move to recognize the
independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia was followed by only a handful of
other states, with the international community considering them part of
Georgia. Georgia accuses Russia of illegally occupying its territory and of
using ethnic cleansing to drive ethnic Georgians out of the areas.
^ It is good to
see a Third Party find out the truth. I don’t see Putin doing anything
differently or admitting any mistakes – he never does. ^
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