The Deputy Minister of Justice said some local non-governmental organisations had filed complaints against Georgia in the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR], accusing the country of bombing Tskhinvali using multiple rocket launchers and causing civilian casualties during the August war 2008.

In his remarks at a session of a temporary investigative commission of the Parliament examining alleged crimes committed by the former United National Movement Government between 2003- 2012, Beka Dzamashvili noted that

“Georgia was facing a complex legal landscape as it was moving into an active phase of legal proceedings over the 2008 war, encountering 3,300 complaints filed against the country at the ECHR by ethnic Ossetians.

For example, a case was filed by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association at the ECHR, titled Sipols v. Georgia. This case, Sipols v. Georgia, was filed solely against Georgia, not against both Georgia and Russia - only against Georgia. The claim alleged that Tskhinvali was bombed using so-called Grad rockets, resulting in civilian deaths. This was the legal reality that the new team at the Ministry of Justice had to handle upon assuming responsibility for legal proceedings”, - explained the Deputy Minister.