ICC seeks arrest of 3 suspects over crimes in 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for three people over alleged war crimes committed during the Russia-Georgia war in 2008.

The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC issued the warrants for Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev, Gamlet Guchmazov and David Georgiyevich Sanakoev, the court said in a statement on Thursday.

On June 24, the ICC judges considered, based on a March application from the prosecutor, that “there were reasonable grounds to believe that each of these three suspects bears responsibility for war crimes,” according to the statement.

“The arrest warrants relate to conduct during the 2008 armed conflict between Russia and Georgia,” it said.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that civilians perceived to be ethnically Georgian were arrested in the South Ossetian part of Georgia, and subsequently detained, mistreated, and kept in harsh detention conditions in a detention centre in Tskhinvali...before being used as a bargaining tool by Russia and the South Ossetian de facto authorities, and used for an exchange of prisoners and detainees. 

“As a result of the exchange, the detainees were forced to leave South Ossetia,” it added.

In 2008, a five-day war erupted between Russian troops and Tbilisi’s forces over the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia.

It saw hundreds of civilians and soldiers killed and thousands of others wounded in Georgia, along with dozens of casualties on the Russian side and hundreds of others from South Ossetia.

Following a France-brokered cease-fire between the two former allies, Russia withdrew its troops from Georgia, as part of the agreement.

Moscow then recognised as independent states the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia.

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