MOSCOW, August 8 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Investigation Committee has presented to the International Criminal Court additional materials concerning the South Ossetian events of August 2008, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass.
“Detectives have thoroughly examined incident scenes, questioned several thousands of witnesses, victims and specialists, and held over 600 examinations and investigative procedures. Irrefutable evidence has been collected to the perpetration of crimes against peace and humanity in the Republic of South Ossetia in August 2008 by Georgian top-ranking officials and chief law enforcers,” he said.
“Georgian top-ranking officials, chief law enforcers and military commanders guilty of these crimes cannot be prosecuted in Russia by international legal norms, and Georgia refuses to bring them to justice. Hence Russia is working to start an investigation at the International Criminal Court,” he said.
“An International Criminal Court prosecutor may make the subject of an official investigation of crimes committed by Georgia the facts of an armed attack on Russian peacekeepers and the use of heavy armaments against South Ossetian civilian population established by Russian detectives. Additional information from Russian detectives has been supplied recently, indicating causes impeding justice, for the soonest use of mechanisms of the International Criminal Court,” he said.
Copies of Russian investigative materials were sent to a prosecutor of the International Criminal Court a year ago.