The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Russian Federation to pay a sum of 129 827 500 Euros in compensation for damages, in favor of up to 24 000 Georgian citizens affected during the Russo-Georgian war of 2008.
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The Grand Chamber announced the general ruling on the case of Georgia v. Russia (II) on January 21st, 2021, and today, reached a unanimous decision regarding just satisfaction.
According to the court verdict, within the span of three months, Russia must pay the Georgian Government:
- 3 250 000 EUR for non-pecuniary damages suffered by Georgian villagers from South Ossetia and the ‘buffering zone’, as a result of the state-backed wrongful killing of at least 50 peaceful residents, and a lack of appropriate and effective investigation of these instances by the Russian Government;
- 2 697 500 EUR for non-pecuniary damages suffered by at least 166 people in the so-called Tskhinvali, who were involuntarily detained in the basement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of so-called South Ossetia between August 10-27;
- 640 000 EUR for non-pecuniary damages inflicted upon at least 16 victims between August 8-17, 2008, in Tskhinvali. The case concerns the torturing of Georgian prisoners of war;
- 115 000 000 EUR for non-pecuniary damages to at least 23 000 victims, who were prevented the reunification to their respective homes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia;
- 8 240 000 EUR for non-pecuniary damages suffered by at least 412 victims, as a result of Russia’s failure to fulfill their procedural obligation of carrying out an adequate and effective investigation into the deaths which occurred during active military operation within a hostile war zone.
The Strasbourg Court remarks that it had jurisdiction to process the question of just satisfaction despite the fact that the Russian Federation has pulled out from the Council of Europe and its government did not cooperate with the court.
The Russian government has not commented on the ruling as of now. After the invasion of Ukraine and the initiation of a full-scale war, Russia’s state duma enacted bills on the withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the European Court. Russia refuses to comply with the court’s decision, which was put into effect starting March 15, 2022.
On January 21, 2021, the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg Court, consisting of 17 judges, found that Russia exercised effective control over the Tskhinvali region during the ‘August War’, and therefore bears responsibility for violating the rights of the Georgian population. Among the said violations are instances of killing civilians and burning and pillaging houses in Georgian villages. The court elaborated that the acts committed against the victims qualify as inhuman and degrading treatment, to which they were subjected based on their ethnicity.
