The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered Russia to pay Georgia over €250 million for violations committed after the brief war between the two countries in 2008. Russia has stated that it will not comply with the decision of the ECHR. The Court decided on Tuesday 14th October that Russia had stopped people from crossing freely into Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgian regions that Moscow recognised as independent after the 16-day war. According to the Court, Russia committed violations including excessive use of force, ill-treatment, unlawful detention and unlawful restrictions on day-to-day movement across the administrative boundary line between Georgian-controlled territory and the Russian-backed breakaway regions.
The Strasbourg-based court linked to the Council of Europe, ordered Moscow to pay just over €253 million for the harm suffered by more than 29,000 victims. The court said it was up to the Georgian government to set up an "effective mechanism" to distribute the sums awarded to the individual victims within 18 months of payment by Russia.
Russia invaded Georgia in August 2008 after Tbilisi launched a surprise offensive against pro-Moscow separatist forces that it said were shelling Georgian villages. Since then, it has occupied areas of northern and western Georgia comprising almost one-fifth of the country and supported friendly governments that have prevented the return of ethnic Georgian citizens, according to Tbilisi. It has also blocked the teaching of Georgian in schools, Georgia says.
Moscow left the the Council of Europe, of which the ECHR is part, in 2022 in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine but the court says it remains liable for violations committed before then. The country has repeatedly defied ECHR rulings, including ones given while it was still a member of the Council of Europe.
Only a few nations followed Russia's lead in recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The wider international community and Georgia still regard them as Georgian territory. The Georgian authorities said that people have been killed while trying to enter or exit Abkhazia or South Ossetia, while others have been arrested, detained and ill-treated for "illegally crossing" the boundary lines.
Children had been forced to choose between learning Russian or making long and perilous journeys to Georgian-controlled territory to attend school, it said.
In an initial 2024 judgment, the court already found "that the incidents alleged were not isolated and were sufficiently numerous and interconnected to amount to a pattern or system of violations."
