The court confirmed Georgia’s claim that the Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions are an integral part of Georgia and are occupied by Russia. Such a statement made today the Minister of Justice, while commenting the decision of the European Court of Human Rights.

“First of all, gratitude to the justice team and Tea Tsulukiani, who has led the work on the substantive review stage since 2013. Appreciation for the efforts of the investigative agencies and their staff, the Georgian military, who fought with dignity in 2008 and made it possible to continue the fight for the independence and sovereignty of this country by legal means, as well as military experts involved in the case. It was a matter of dignity, and this victory belongs to the whole country

During the last hearing in the Strasbourg Court, we promised that this would be a fight for truth and justice and there would be no compromise in this fight. Today I can say that this promise has been fulfilled - Georgia won the 12-year dispute between Georgia and Russia. Strasbourg court ruled that Russia was found to have violated a number of articles of the Convention during the 2008 war. This decision was made by a 17-judge Grand Chamber of Judges, which ruled that Russia had effective control over the Tskhinvali region and Abkhazia which inflicts on them the responsibility for violating the rights of the population of Georgia.

The court confirmed Georgia’s claim that the Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions are an integral part of Georgia and are occupied by Russia. In addition, which is very important, the court found that during the 2008 war, Russia carried out ethnic cleansing of Georgians”, - said Gocha Lortkipanidze.