In proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, the government in Tbilisi has said Russia bombed civilian areas in Georgia during the fighting almost 10 years ago, Britain’s The Guardian has reported.
In closing evidence before the European court in the French city of Strasbourg on Wednesday, the Georgian government said that Moscow was guilty of multiple violations during the 2008 conflict, The Guardian said on its website.
It quoted the authorities in Tbilisi as saying that Russian planes carried out more than 100 attacks on Georgian targets over five days in August 2008.
The Georgian government said there was overwhelming evidence that Russian bombs were dropped on civilian areas, killing and injuring innocent people, theguardian.com reported.
The evidence includes witness statements, satellite footage, and video and phone intercepts, according to theguardian.com.
The government in Tbilisi told the European Court of Human Rights that some 30,000 Russian soldiers poured into Georgia’s two breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia when the conflict erupted, theguardian.com added.
Late Polish President Lech Kaczyński made a trip to Tbilisi in August 2008, together with the presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia, to show solidarity with Georgia in the face of Russia's invasion of that country, according to accounts by officials.
Former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that Lech Kaczyński was right when he warned the international community over Russia's intentions regarding Georgia as well as Ukraine in 2008.
Lech Kaczyński said at the time that "Georgia will be first, then Ukraine, and then maybe the Baltic states and Poland," according to reports.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in December reiterated his country’s support for Georgia joining NATO and the European Union.
Heads of state and government from EU member states and six Eastern partner countries gathered at an Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels in November adopted a declaration mentioning the “European aspirations” of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova but without offering them a concrete promise of future EU membership.
(gs/pk)
Source: theguardian.com