Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia commented on the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for Mikhail Mindzaev, Hamlet Guchmazov and David Sanakoev. The text is posted on the official website of the Foreign Ministry.
"As it became known, as part of the investigation into the events of August 2008, the ICC issued warrants for the arrest of ex-Minister of Internal Affairs of South Ossetia Mikhail Mindzaev, former Head of the Detention Facility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of South Ossetia Hamlet Guchmazov and former Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights of South Ossetia David Sanakoev, who held their positions in August 2008, during the armed aggression committed by Georgia against the Republic of South Ossetia.
In South Ossetia, this information caused complete bewilderment. The Ministry is compelled to remind that it was these officials who made every possible effort to save the lives of the Georgian citizens, ensured their safety on the territory of South Ossetia and later handed them over to the Georgian side," the Foreign Ministry stressed.
It has been noted that in March of this year, Foreign Ministry of South Ossetia drew attention to a special type of the European justice, which does not withstand any criticism, defiantly ignoring facts that are inconvenient for it.
"The ICC has not taken a single procedural action against the Georgian military and officials guilty of committing the documented war crimes against the civilian population of South Ossetia and representatives of the international peacekeeping contingent located in the conflict zone. The absolutely biased decision of the International Criminal Court has nothing to do with justice. In South Ossetia, no one will ever be able to agree with such a selective application of international law, when the investigation is conducted not against representatives of the aggressor country, but exclusively against representatives of the side affected by the aggression. A reasonable question arises about the goals of such actions The ICC, which, by stepping over international law, has completely discredited the European justice," the Foreign Ministry said.
According to the South Ossetian Foreign Ministry, it is absolutely clear that this decision was made against the backdrop of a crisis in international relations, in conditions when a total war is being waged against Russia, and anti-Russian sanctions have reached unprecedented proportions. And this is against the country, which, by its actions in August 2008, stopped the war unleashed by the criminal regime of Saakashvili against the people of South Ossetia. Apparently, the International Criminal Court has decided to make its own contribution to the aggravation of the international situation and to throw its stone in the direction of Russia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsibly declares that any decisions of the ICC on the territory of the Republic of South Ossetia are illegitimate and will not have any prospects. In the Republic of South Ossetia, every citizen is guaranteed inviolability of the person. No one may be arrested or detained otherwise than on the basis of a court decision or with the authorization of the Prosecutor of the Republic. This is a requirement of the Constitution of the Republic of South Ossetia.
