To the Tribunal people

President Dmitry Medvedev's speculations about an international tribunal for his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili were supported by real action: Russia sent copies of materials from criminal cases about the war in South Ossetia to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Kommersant writes.

As explained by the official representative of the Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, since the Georgian prosecutor’s office “on far-fetched grounds refused to cooperate with Russian law enforcement agencies” in the investigation of Georgia’s actions in South Ossetia, it was decided to send copies of the case materials to The Hague.

The newspaper cites a source in the Russian government, who said that the idea to initiate an investigation into Georgia’s actions by the Hague Court appeared in Moscow back in August 2008. It was supported by the then statement of the court prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocamno, that he was closely monitoring the situation, and by the fact that the court had even then requested materials on the war in Georgia. In the fall of 2008, the first statements from Russian citizens living on the territory of South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers began to be transferred to The Hague, and later 28 volumes of materials collected during the investigation were transferred. Employees of the prosecutor's office visited Georgia twice and Russia twice.

Moreno-Ocampo must soon decide whether to start an investigation, but when is unknown, the newspaper writes, citing a source in the Investigative Committee.

True, Russia cannot actually initiate an investigation within the International Criminal Court, since it has not ratified the Rome Statute, which determines the legal status of the court. Either the prosecutor or the UN Security Council can initiate. In addition, the court may consider the number of victims of military operations in South Ossetia insufficient to begin an investigation - it was in charge of cases of war crimes that resulted in the death of thousands of people. As a result of the war in August 2008, the death of 134 civilians in South Ossetia has so far been proven. At least 240 civilians died on the Georgian side.

As for Georgia, according to Kommersant, it is also cooperating with the Hague court to initiate a criminal case, but against Russia. The newspaper quotes the words of the head of the public relations department of the Georgian Ministry of Justice, Khatuna Iosava, who stated that “we have already sent and continue to send materials from criminal cases on crimes of the Russian military to the ICC.” While Russia accuses Georgian prosecutors of refusing to cooperate, Georgia, for its part, reports that its prosecutors “repeatedly approached Russian colleagues with an offer to help in the investigation of crimes committed by Russian troops against the population of South Ossetia and other regions of Georgia, but We didn’t receive a response.”

Markin, meanwhile, states that the Investigative Committee has evidence that Russia did not commit any war crimes in August 2008. Thus, there are no documents confirming the ownership of destroyed houses and other objects.