Georgian victims of the 2008 Georgia-Russia war have filed suits against the Russian government in the European Court of Human Rights, Georgian media reported on February 16.
One hundred and thirty-four Georgians asked that Moscow be held accountable for civilian deaths and injuries as well as the destruction of their properties in or near territory controlled by separatist South Ossetia and Russia. Applications were filed by the Georgian Young Lawyers Association and its London-based partner, the European Human Rights Advocacy Center. The plaintiffs, many of them evicted from their homes, say that Moscow violated a number of European human rights conventions by ordering or failing to stop the burning and looting of Georgian houses by Russian soldiers and South Ossetian militia, the European Human Rights Advocacy Center said in an online statement on February 10.
A month ago, several South Ossetians also filed lawsuits in the Strasbourg-based court against the state of Georgia for damage to life and property, as well as degrading treatment by Georgian troops during the five-day war, Russian news sources said.
Moscow justifies its 2008 invasion of Georgia by the need to stop Tbilisi's attempt to bring separatist South Ossetia back under its control by force. Tbilisi counters that it was responding to a Russian invasion and to separatist forces' heavy shelling of Georgian-controlled villages in South Ossetia. Rights groups have criticized both sides for grave human rights violations.