European court admits Georgia’s fourth lawsuit against Russia on violations at occupation lines

The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday admitted Georgia’s fourth lawsuit against Russia on alleged violations of human rights along occupation lines. 

The Georgian authorities submitted the lawsuit to the Strasbourg-based court on August 22, 2018. 

The Georgian government alleged Russia has been engaged in an administrative practice of harassing, unlawfully arresting and detaining, assaulting, torturing, murdering and intimidating ethnic Georgians attempting to cross, or living next to, the administrative boundary lines that now separate Georgian-controlled territory from Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). 

The court noted the following stage would be an announcement of judgment. 

Russia recognized the two Georgian regions as independent states after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, with the occupation forces erecting illegal barriers and have been engaged in so-called “borderisation” since 2009.