The Hague Court has no mandate to investigate who started the war — Kaupo Kand, Head of the International Criminal Court mission representative in Georgia and a legal officer of ICC said in “Presidential Elections 2018” Program of First Channel.

“We are working on crimes committed before the humankind in the situation with Georgia. The main subject of the court’s investigative mandate is to reveal individual responsibility, grave crimes that caused concern of the international community,” Kand said. According to the legal officer of ICC, investigation concerns those persons, who are most responsible for the crimes.

Kand responded to the question of the Program Host Giorgi Gvimradze if there were sides in the cases and whether or not the case was Georgia vs. Russia. Kand explained that the investigation referred to the crimes committed during the period from July 1 to October 10 in 2008.

“We are the highest instance court. Based on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, it is the sovereign right of Georgia to put to trial all persons who are responsible for the crimes committed on its territory. In case, the country does not want or fails to investigate the case, the case can be handed over to the International Criminal Court,” Kand said.

He underlined that the Georgian side was cooperating with ICC and no problem or challenge existed in that regard. Kand said that challenges existed with respect to Russia and the de-facto authorities. “Of course, full cooperation would be better for an ideal scenario, but the investigation will continue even under the conditions of limited cooperation,” Kand claimed.