ICC prosecutor plans to investigate 2008 Georgia-Russia war

PanARMENIAN.Net - The International Criminal Court said on Wednesday, October 8, that its prosecutor planned to investigate possible crimes committed in the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia, Reuters reports.

Judges must now decide whether to permit the move, which would pit non-member Russia against the European-backed permanent global war crimes court at a time when east-west tensions run higher than at any time since the Cold War.

The Hague-based court is already considering whether to open an investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine, another West-leaning former Soviet republic which is fighting separatists in its east.

In a statement on Thursday, the court said Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had concluded there was a "reasonable basis to believe" crimes had been committed during the short war over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia.

Her request comes as Russia seeks to become a more active global diplomatic and military player, launching air strikes in support of beleaguered Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Any investigation would need to look at possible war crimes or crimes against humanity committed by both sides in the August 2008 clash, in which hundreds died and hundreds of thousands were displaced.