Russia's invasion of Georgia in August 2008

Independent Panel of Experts concludes that Russian peacekeepers lacked impartiality and directly participated in hostilities following Russia's invasion of Georgia in August 2008
On 28 February this year, President Mikheil Saakashvili appointed an independent panel of experts, led by former UN Prosecutor Professor Payam Akhavan, to investigate and analyse the actions of Georgian soldiers in the August 2008 conflict with Russia. The panel was asked in particular to consider an incident on 8 August 2008 when Georgian troops exchanged fire with Russian peacekeepers. That incident is under investigation by the International Criminal Court. It is the only incident under investigation relating to the conduct of Georgian soldiers – all other aspects of the ICC’s investigation relate to the conduct of Russian or Ossetian soldiers.

Today, the panel has delivered to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court the Panel’s Preliminary Report. After careful analysis of the available evidence, the Panel has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to suggest that Georgian soldiers committed any international crime, and there is evidence that Russian peacekeepers failed to respect their obligation of impartiality, and directly participated in the conflict, before the incident in question – so they were not entitled to protected status.

The preliminary report prepared by the Panel was submitted to the ICC prosecutor on August 7, 2020 to assist her office in concluding the investigation against Georgian soldiers. Where crimes have been committed, perpetrators must be held to account. But as the Panel’s independent analysis of the evidence and of international law demonstrates, this is not such a case.

The Panel gathered and analyzed significant amount of evidence. This included witness testimony, telephone intercepts, reports of international organisations and NGOs, and contemporaneous media reports. The panel analysed this evidence thoroughly, based on the Statute of the International Criminal Court. Based on our investigation thus far, the Panel has come to the conclusion that there is no proper basis for the prosecution of Georgian soldiers for war crimes in regard to the Verkhniy Gorodok incident.

There is considerable evidence that Russia has never played an impartial role in either the conflicts in Abkhazia or South Ossetia. Russia’s support for Ossetian de facto authorities significantly escalated in the months leading to Russia’s invasion of 7 August 2008. This included the peacekeeping forces that violated their obligation of impartiality. Georgia only consented to their presence on its sovereign territory on this basis.
Beyond this context, there is specific evidence that beginning on the evening of August 7, Russian peacekeepers at Verkhniy Gorodok were directly participating in the combat operations. They were providing coordinates to Ossetian forces and allowing their base to be used for combat operations. In particular, the Georgian forces came under attack by artillery fire from this exact location. This made the Russian peacekeepers’ base a legitimate military target. The Georgian forces were entitled to defend themselves against such attacks. Based on this evidence, we have come to the conclusion that there is no basis to conclude that they committed any war crimes. There is therefore no basis for prosecutions before the International Criminal Court.

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