The Georgian Human Rights Centre has documented these crimes in the conflict zones throughout the fall of 2008 in cooperation with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Austrian Helsinki Association and Caucasia Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Studies.
Regular visits have been carried out to the Gori, Tskhinvali, Kareli, Khashuri and Zugididi regions with the purpose of identifying victims and witnesses to crimes, and documenting such acts by conducting interviews and collecting photographic evidence from the places that suffered most because of the conflict. Documented facts relate to alleged crimes committed by the armed forces of the Russian Federation or by paramilitary groups that acted and still continue to act in the Georgian territory that is effectively controlled by the Russian Federation. Research results from the town of Tskhinvali, describing violations of humanitarian law by the armed forces of Georgia is also included in the material. Based on the fact finding there is evidence to suggest that two of the three categories of crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC, crimes against humanity and war crimes, took place during and after the August 2008 conflict.
Georgia ratified the Rome Statute on 5 September 2003, accepting the jurisdiction of the Court with respect to crimes committed on its territory.
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