Georgian Official Becomes First To Represent Eastern Europe in The Hague Court Victims’ Fund
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, December 7
Georgian Deputy Minister of Justice Gocha Lortkipanidze was elected on Wednesday in the five-member board of the Trust Fund of Victims’ in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
All the 123 ICC member states supported Lortkipanidze’s election in the board which responds to the harm resulting from crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC by upholding the rights of victims and their families through the provision of reparations and assistance.
Lortkipanidze has replaced the representative of Bosnia Herzegovina and was elected with the quota of Eastern Europe.
Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani stated that Lortkipanidze’s election to the post was particularly important in the situation when the ICC prosecutor is investigating the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Lortkipanidze, 54, has been engaged with diplomatic activities since the 1990s.
Between 1999 and 2003 Lortkipanidze served as legal counsel on international treaty issues, international organizations and human rights, and administrative issues.
He represented Georgia in the Third (human rights) and Sixth (legal) committees and Preparatory Commission on the establishment of the International Criminal Court.
He also participated in the multilateral negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, the International Convention against Reproductive Cloning of Human Beings, and the Statute of International Criminal Court.
Lortkipanidze was an invited researcher and professor of the Columbia University and is the graduate of Essex University, Harvard School of Law, and Fordham University School of Law.
In his first statement in the role, Lortkipanidze said that “he is sure that the investigation results of the ICC prosecutor regarding the Russia-Georgia war will become the basement of enforcement of the international law, no matter how influential one party of the case is.”
The ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who has been investigating the Russia-Georgia 2008 war since January 2016, says that the process is ongoing and she is trying to involve Russia in the process, as the country consistently refuses to cooperate and provide materials.
She says that Georgia is actively cooperating with the investigation and has provided all the necessary materials.
