MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - A Dutch correspondent has filed a lawsuit against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights over the war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported on Tuesday.
Jeroen Akkermans from Holland's RTL channel suffered a leg injury and his cameraman Stan Storimans was killed during Russian airstrikes near the Georgian town of Gori, 76 kilometers (47 miles) west of Tbilisi, on August 12.
Akkermans is joining a case originally brought by relatives of Georgians killed in airstrikes, who claim Moscow used cluster bombs during the defensive and is responsible for their deaths. Tbilisi has said some 400 Georgians were killed during the conflict.
Some 162 South Ossetian civilians and 67 Russian service personnel, including peacekeepers, were killed when Georgia attacked the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia last August. Russia reacted swiftly expelling Georgian troops from South Ossetia and forcing them deep into Georgia amid accusations on both sides of human rights abuses.
The Dutch television company RTL is due to broadcast a documentary on Wednesday which it claims contains evidence of the use of cluster bombs.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko earlier said it was impossible for the Dutch to make such allegations over the cause of Storimans' death and Akkermans' injuries. Russia's Deputy Chief of Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn in August last year said Russia had never used cluster munitions, including during the military operations in South Ossetia.
During a press conference following Russian-Dutch talks in June, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the investigation into Storimans' death needed to be completed, but said the tragedy was caused by Georgia. Medvedev claimed that evidence existed to prove that Georgia had used cluster bombs during the August conflict.
