The Interim Fact-Finding Commission on the Activities of the Regime and the Political Officials of the Regime of 2003-2012 started the hearings; today, the Commission heard the Deputy Justice Minister, Beka Dzamashvili. He reported on international disputes and international legal relations concerning the breaches of the law during 2003-2012 and informed the Commission about the Strasbourg Court disputes, also the ICC and ICJ disputes conducted by Georgia in 2011.

According to him, Georgia is a member of the Council of Europe; the Strasbourg Court determined the violations on 282 cases for Georgia and 79% of the violations come for 2003-2012.

“More than half of the violations concern the gravest articles, namely, the right to life and torture. Other violations are: illegal detention, the right of fair Court processing, and the violation of the right of assemblies and manifestations, and property rights. Aggregating all these factors into a uniform juncture, there are approximately 100 cases of the violation of the rights of prisoners, including the tortures in the penitentiaries, also murders, improper conditions and undue medical treatment”, - he noted.

Speaking about the August war, he elucidated that legal cases have been filed in three international courts about the war 2008.

According to him, prior to the international courts issuing their conclusions, two significant documents appeared - the PACE Resolution of October 2, 2008, 16/33, and the Tagliavini Report, which have affected the legal proceedings in international courts.

“Paragraph five of the Resolution reflects that the full-scale war started as a result of bombarding Tskhinvali by Georgia, as provided a record in paragraph 5 along with the record that both sides - Georgia and Russia - violated international law, and paragraph 11 provides an even graver record - alleged use of the cassette weapons by Georgia, using disproportionate force and thus, committing war crimes. The Russian Delegation did not this document because it accused both parties, however, the Georgian Delegation did sign the aforementioned record”, - said Dzamashvili.

Per his information, the Tagliavini Commission set up by the EU made the same conclusions about the commencement of the war.

As he noted, in April 2011, the ICJ made a decision concerning the claim initiated by Georgia, according to which, Georgia has lost this dispute. The decision underscores Georgia’s failure to substantiate that the Georgian population was subjected to ethnic cleansing and discrimination prior to the 2008 war. Additionally, Georgia failed to confirm that it had filed any legal claims against Russia before the conflict.

The reporter also stressed the fact of absence of evidence pieces about the bombarding of the Georgian villages and cities, which were collected and obtained years later. The reporter also answered the questions.

The Commission heard the Secretary General of the Central Election Commission, Giorgi Santuriani, about the Parliamentary, Presidential and Municipal Elections of 2003-2012. He provided the data about the abovementioned elections and answered the questions, including about the repeat elections of March 28, 2004, regarding which the Strasbourg Court has issued a decision; the Presidential Elections 2008; the Elections of October 1, 2012; and the pre-election period, namely, the activity of the Audit Service.