ICC to investigate Russia- Georgia war

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda said she will investigate Russian and Georgian forces over possible war crimes, the BBC reports.

The investigation reportedly relates to a five-day conflict in South Ossetia in 2008, a breakaway region of Georgia.

Bensouda said in a statement she had evidence that suggested that South Ossetian forces had killed up to 113 ethnic Georgian civilians, and that both sides had killed peacekeepers. She added that Russian forces may have participated in the killing of civilians.

The statement said shells from South Ossetian positions had killed two Georgian peacekeepers, while Georgian forces had killed 10 Russian peacekeepers and destroyed a medical facility.

The war began with an operation by Georgia to seize back South Ossetia, but Russian troops quickly retook the area and pushed deeper into Georgian territory, stopping just short of the capital, Tbilisi.

The BBC adds that nearly 1,000 people were killed while tens of thousands of Georgians living in the disputed areas were forced out of their homes.

Prosecutors said there was evidence that up to 18,500 people were uprooted from their homes as part of a "forcible displacement campaign" conducted by South Ossetian authorities, and that the ethnic Georgian population in the conflict zone was reduced by at least 75%.

Judges must now decide whether to authorise a full investigation, which could risk inflaming tensions between Russia and Western countries - already strained by the crisis in Syria as Russia is not a member of the Hague based ICC.

In other news, the ICC is also following up an investigation into crimes committed in clashes between Ukrainian troops and Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.