The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Russia is responsible for numerous human rights violations in the breakaway regions of Georgia after the 2008 Russian-Georgian war.
The five-day war in August 2008 erupted when Georgia's military tried unsuccessfully to regain control of the Moscow-backed breakaway republic of South Ossetia, prompting Russia to intervene militarily.
After the war, Russia established military bases in South Ossetia, but also in Abkhazia, another breakaway republic of Georgia, and recognized them as independent states, while the majority of states still consider them part of Georgia.
Georgia sued Russia before the European Court of Human Rights for violating the European Convention on Human Rights both during and after the war.
The Strasbourg-based court, however, only accepted the claim for the period after the military conflict, ruling that Russia had effective control over the breakaway parts of Georgia after the war and was responsible for the ill-treatment and torture of Georgian prisoners of war, arbitrary detention and "inhumane and degrading " the treatment of 160 arrested Georgian civilians in August 2008.
The Court declared Russia responsible for preventing the return of forcibly displaced ethnic Georgians to the breakaway regions after the war.
The court ordered Moscow to investigate human rights violations during and after the conflict.
The highest officials of Georgia assessed that today's judgment of the Court represents a great victory for that country.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili described the verdict as "historic", stating that her country was "recognised as a victim of the 2008 war".
The Ministry of Justice of Russia expressed disagreement with some of the Court's conclusions blaming Russia for the incidents in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, saying that "the direct participation of the Russian army in them has never been proven."
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