Prosecutor General of Georgia Irakli Shotadze has met with Nazhat Shameem Khan, the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) seated in The Hague.

During the meeting at the Office of the Prosecutor General attended by representatives of the Prosecution Service of Georgia and the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court, the parties discussed various matters relating to the investigation conducted by the OTP involving Georgia.

Furthermore, they addressed the decision rendered by International Court in the August 2008 War case. The decision concerns the issuing of arrest warrants for three former high-ranking officials of de facto South Ossetia by the Pretrial Chamber of the International Criminal Court on a basis of a motion filed by the Prosecutor.

During the meeting, it was underlined that the acts perpetrated by aforementioned individuals that concerns kidnapping of ethnic Georgians, torturing and treating them inhumanly, taking them as hostages and unlawfully surrendering them afterwards, constitutes a grave war crime.

By the end of the meeting, the significance of the mutual cooperation between the Georgian side and the International Criminal Court was touched upon. The parties agreed to share experience and enhance cooperation in future.

Nazhat Shameem Khan, the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is visiting Georgia within the scope of the 27th annual conference and general meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP), set to be held in Tbilisi on September 25 - 29.

Within the framework of the four-day conference, sessions and workshops will be held on various important issues such as international cooperation directly through prosecution authorities; COVID, Institutional Challenges & Response; Evolution of Cyber-Crime Typologies; Challenges Obtaining Digital Evidence from Abroad; Money Laundering through Virtual Assets; and so on.