The same year, Emmerson appeared at the European Court of Human Rights in two inter-State cases against the Russian Federation. The first case, brought by Georgia, alleged that Russian forces and their proxies in the separatist movements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia committed war crimes during the invasion of Georgia in 2008. At a hearing on 23 May 2018, Emmerson argued that Russian troops were guilty of multiple violations during a "rampage" across Georgian territory in which Russia's aim was to "occupy as much territory as it could get away with".