On December 16, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Karim Assad Ahmad Khan, announced the completion of the investigation into the August War, the 2008 Russian-Georgian armed conflict that took place in the territory of the self-proclaimed South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
According to the prosecutor, his office began this investigation into crimes against humanity and war crimes on January 27, 2016 - after completing a preliminary investigation launched on August 14, 2008 in response to Georgia's claim.
“From the very beginning of the investigation, my department has been studying evidence of crimes allegedly committed by all parties to the armed conflict,” Karim Khan emphasized.
No perpetrators of war crimes have been identified on the Georgian side. However, as a result of the investigation, on June 30, an arrest warrant was issued for three suspected officials of the South Ossetian administration. These are Mikhail Mindzaev (in 2005–2008 - head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia), Hamlet Guchmazov (in 2008 - head of the pre-trial detention center of the South Ossetian Ministry of Internal Affairs) and David Sanakoev (in 2008 - the Commissioner of the South Ossetian President for Human Rights, now a deputy, former presidential candidate ).
According to the ICC, these individuals are responsible for unlawful deprivation of liberty, torture and inhuman treatment, violations of human dignity, hostage-taking and illegal transfer of persons of Georgian nationality during and after the armed phase of the conflict.
In addition, the ICC indicated the participation of Major General of the Russian Armed Forces, the late Vyacheslav Borisov, in war crimes. In 2008, he was deputy commander of the Airborne Forces and, according to the prosecutor, “deliberately facilitated the commission of some of these crimes.”
The prosecutor's office reported the results of the investigation not only to the Georgian authorities. “My office has contacted civil society organizations and other interested parties to provide them with details of the decision to conclude the investigation phase of the situation in Georgia, as well as to inform them of our ongoing activities regarding the situation in Georgia and our strong commitment to bring ongoing cases to trial ", said Karim Khan.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague investigates crimes committed on the territory of states party to the Rome Statute. Georgia is one of them, Russia is not. The South Ossetian Foreign Ministry stated that the decisions of the ICC on the territory of the republic are illegitimate and will have no prospects.