Ombudsman Issues Statement on 2008 War Anniversary

Public Defender Levan Ioseliani issued a statement today on 15 years anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. The statement notes that “the consequences of the armed conflict are still acutely felt by the population remaining in the occupied territory and living in the vicinity of the dividing line.”

The Ombudsman speaks of the “purposeful discrimination of the ethnically Georgian population and violation of various rights in the occupied territories” including “restriction of free movement, denial of access to education in native language, restrictions on the issuance of de facto documentation, violation of the right to life, and lack of access to health care and other essential services.

The statement stresses that the responsibility for these human rights violations rests with the Russian Federation as the power exercising effective control, recalling the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights of January 21, 2021 in the case of Georgia v. Russia II,  which stated that Russia continues to exercise effective control in the occupied Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions.

Ombudsman emphasizes that the occupation regime left unpunished the persons responsible for the murder of four Georgian citizens – Davit Basharuli, Giga Otkhozoria, Archil Tatunashvili and Irakli Kvaratskheli and continues the practice of illegal detention of persons for the so-called illegal border crossing.

It is noted that the number of illegal detentions by the occupation regime has increased in recent years and as of today, nine citizens remain in illegal detention in the occupied territories of Georgia.

The statement says that according to the official data “from 2008 to the present day, the occupation regime illegally detained 3,439 people for the so-called illegal border crossing, 1,935 of them in the direction of occupied Abkhazia, and 1,504 in the direction of occupied Tskhinvali.”

The Ombudsman condemns the process of borderization and erection of other artificial barriers by the Russian occupation forces, noting that more than 56 km of barbed wire has been erected in the vicinity of the occupied Tskhinvali region, and more than 49 km in the vicinity of occupied Abkhazia. Public Defender calls for calls on the authorities of Georgia to strengthen pressure on the occupation regime by using all international mechanisms to protect the rights of the people living in the occupied regions, and spare no efforts “to expand and strengthen the dialogue between the artificially divided society.”

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)