The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said on Thursday he had asked judges to issue arrest warrants for three officials suspected of war crimes during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war – and drew parallels with his investigations in Ukraine.
The warrants focused on charges of “unlawful confinement, ill-treatment, hostage taking and subsequent unlawful transfer of ethnic Georgian civilians,” Karim Khan said.
During five days of fighting in 2008, Russia pushed troops into Georgia in support of its allies in the separatist region of South Ossetia – in what Georgia and Western nations said was an unprovoked land grab.
At the time, Moscow said it acted to protect civilians from Georgian aggression and Russia went on to recognize the independence of South Ossetia, where Russian troops are now garrisoned.
Khan said he had asked for an arrest warrant for Mikhail Mindzaev, the de facto interior minister in South Ossetia at the time.
The other two officials were Hamlet Guchmazov, described as the head of a detention facility, and David Sanakoev, described as a presidential representative for human rights in South Ossetia.
There was no immediate statement from any lawyers representing the three men.
Khan said his office had found “similar patterns of conduct” during its preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine, which looked at events from 2014 onwards. Last week the ICC said it was also sending in investigators to look into possible war crimes since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
“I remain profoundly concerned about ongoing allegations of international crimes occurring amidst active hostilities in Ukraine today,” Khan added.
Russia has denied targeting civilians in Ukraine and says its aim is to “disarm” Ukraine and arrest leaders it falsely calls neo-Nazis.
The International Criminal Court, which has 123 member states, prosecutes individuals responsible for the gravest crimes when a country is unable or unwilling to do so.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC but Kyiv signed a special declaration to give the court jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on its territory since 2014. Moscow does not recognize the tribunal, which opened in The Hague in 2002.
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