The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that he has requested an arrest warrant for three officials suspected of committing war crimes in the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
Prosecutor Karim Khan stated that his request for an arrest warrant to the judges focused on accusations against ethnic Georgian civilians such as unlawful imprisonment, ill-treatment, and captivity.
In 2008, during the five-day conflict, Russia sent troops to Georgia to support the pro-Russian groups in the separatist South Ossetia region, and Georgia and western countries described this situation as unlawful land annexation.
Moscow claimed that it took action to protect civilians from the Georgian attack at that time and recognized the independence of South Ostia, where Russian soldiers are now located.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Khan said that South Ossetia had requested an arrest warrant for Mikhail Mindzaev, who was then the de facto interior minister.
The other two officials for whom the prosecutor requested an arrest warrant are Hamlet Guchmazov, the director of the detention center in the region, and David Sanakoev, whose duty is defined as the presidency’s human rights representative in South Ossetia.
“I am concerned about war crimes allegations in Ukraine”
Prosecutor Khan stated that in the preliminary assessment made on the situation in Ukraine and examining the events since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, they found “traces of similar behavior”.
“I am extremely concerned about the international allegations of war crimes during the attacks that continue today in Ukraine,” the prosecutor said.
The International Criminal Court has 123 members. Russia and Ukraine are not members of the International Criminal Court. However, Kyiv had signed a special declaration recognizing the court’s jurisdiction to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on its territory since 2014. Russia, on the other hand, does not recognize the court established in The Hague in 2002.