By Vessela Evrova

Georgian citizens filed a complaint Friday in Strasbourg, alleging that Russia violated European human rights law during the 2008 war in South Ossetia.

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and London based European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) submitted 32 groups of full applications to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of 134 Georgian citizens. They charge that Russia committed a number of serious violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) during the August 2008 armed conflict between Russia and Georgia.

Two and a half years after the conflict, the cases have only just made it to the European Court: “The Court is there to deal with any violations that the domestic states themselves can’t deal with”, says Joanna Evans, Senior Lawyer at EHRAC. “Each state has to be given the opportunity to address any violations which occur in their own country before Strasbourg looks at it”.

Russian authorities said they would only investigate alleged violations committed on Russian territory or involving Russian citizens living in Georgia. “As a result of that we’ve taken the view that domestic remedies have been exhausted”, says Evans.

The complaints reference incidents that took place in Georgian villages within South Ossetia and the surrounding area as well as in the city of Gori. They primarily concern instances of shelling and air attacks on villages - allegedly carried out by Russian armed forces - resulting in the destruction of property and the killing or injuring of civilians. The deliberate burning and looting of villagers’ houses by Russian soldiers or Ossetian militia are also addressed in the ECHR application.

In their complaints the applicants rely on various provisions of the ECHR: Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security of the person), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), 13 (effective
remedy), 14 (prohibition of discrimination), Article 1 of Protocol 1 (right to peaceful enjoyment of property) and Article 2 of Protocol 4 (freedom of movement).

Applicability of the ECHR

The cases raise important questions about the applicability of the ECHR to a conflict situation, and will also test the ‘reach’ of the ECHR: the applicants are asking the Court to find Russia responsible for violations perpetrated by its armed forces outside Russian territory. The Court will also be asked to decide whether the Russian Federation was responsible both for the actions of its armed forces and of Ossetian militia.

The applicants are strongly relying on the principle of ‘effective control’ in international law in terms of Russia’s position in the conflict. For that, their representation claims, the evidence is strong: “Russia had ‘effective control’ over South Ossetia over an extended period of time because of the assistances given in a number of ways militarily, politically and economically”, says Evans. In addition, it had occupied vast areas of “undisputed Georgian territory for a considerable period after the eruption of the conflict in August”.

“If the court finds it was Russia’s obligation to protect those people or not to violate their rights, then they will be responsible for those violations”, says Natia Katsitadze, Strategic litigation lawyer at GYLA.

Nonetheless, it remains a challenge to convince the European Court that the principle of ‘effective control’ is the leading argument here.

Conversely, says Joanne Evans, “there would obviously be a vacuum in terms of the protection of individuals which the convention is supposed to endow.”

Justice to the victims

“It was our interest as a human rights organisation working in Georgia to make these cases subject of review by the Court, as there is no other possibility to bring justice to the victims of human rights violations at the time of conflict”, says Katsitadze, whose organisation had launched various campaigns within Georgia to raise awareness as to all the violations that are being presented before the European Court. “It is quite a big issue for the Georgian population.” In addition, the Georgian government itself has a case before the Court against the Russian state.

GYLA and EHRAC have been working in partnership since 2006 and the two organisations have lodged a series of cases against Georgia at the European Court of Human Rights. They have also brought cases against the Russian Federation on behalf of people who were deported from Russia to Georgia in October 2006.

URL:http://www.rnw.nl/int-justice/article/georgia-takes-russia-court-over-2008-war