On March 2, five NGOs that are members of the Georgian Coalition for the International Criminal Court (the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, the Human Rights Center, Article 42 of the Constitution, Justice International, and the Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims) arrived in the village of Mokhisi and met with individuals afflicted by the 2008 war. The coalition of NGOs represents the interests of hundreds of war-afflicted people at the national and international level, including in the European Court of Human Rights and The Hague Tribunal.

The meeting was held in the framework of the International Criminal Court’s (The Hague Tribunal) investigation of the crimes committed at the time of the Russia-Georgia War of 2008, which was launched by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Court two years ago. 

The aforementioned meeting in the IDP settlement in the village of Mokhisi was aimed to interview war-afflicted individuals and to provide them with information about the International Criminal Court and the scope of the ongoing investigation, as well as to study the needs of the war-afflicted population living in the settlement. The people were interviewed separately using a special questionnaire. After being analyzed, the information collected will be provided to various bodies of the International Criminal Court and to the Trust Fund for Victims. In addition, the Coalition is planning to conduct similar surveys in various settlements and, on the basis of the collected information, prepare a special report which will include a description of the situation 10 years after the war.

The member organizations of the Coalition will continue to hold meetings with war-afflicted people and to collect information about their needs for several more months.