PACE resolution states Georgia`s bombing of Tskhinvali led to full-scale war, used cluster munitions and committed war crimes. Such a statement the Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili made at a session of the Parliamentary Temporary Investigative Commission studying the activities of the 2003-2012 regime and its political officials.

“Legal proceedings in international courts began after the 2008 war. Just days after the August war, Georgia’s then-government appealed to the Strasbourg Court and the International Court of Justice [ICJ] in The Hague to initiate proceedings. As for the ICC, the International Criminal Court, its prosecutor initiated a preliminary investigation on their own initiative.

The 1st development in this case, before any factual circumstances were established in any court or at the internal investigation stage, not even 2 months had passed, the first document that appears regarding the assessment of this case is the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1633 of October 2, 2008, which evaluated both the factual circumstances and, to some extent, provided a legal assessment of the war.

There were 2 important aspects for Georgia, which somewhat influenced the proceedings in international courts. First, this resolution made its own assessment regarding the start of the war, and paragraph 5 states that the full-scale war began as a result of Georgia’s bombing of Tskhinvali. It also mentions that both sides, Georgia and Russia, violated multiple norms of international law.

An even more serious statement is made in paragraph 11, which mentions that among other things, the Georgian side used cluster munitions, used disproportionate force, and war crimes were committed. This is directly written, and it might also be noteworthy that the Russian delegation, precisely because both sides were accused, including Russia, did not sign this resolution, however, the Georgian delegation signed those provisions, including paragraphs 5 and 11.

One point from this resolution might also be noteworthy, which states that neither side did anything to prevent the conflict from escalating into a full-scale war, and on the contrary, to de-escalate it. The resolution indicates that the details they discussed and the general picture they outlined should be assessed in detail by these international courts – the Strasbourg Court and the 2 Hague courts – within their legal proceedings”, - said Beka Dzamashvili.