Georgia Continues to Take a Beating at the ECHR

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On October 17th Georgia lost two more cases in European Court of Human Rights. This brought the total number of court cases with verdicts not in Georgia’s favor to nine.

Lawyer Irakli Kandashvili from the law firm of Andronikashvili, Sachsen-Altenburg, Baramidze & Partners, says that in 2006, the number of cases against Georgia in the Strasbourg court has increased from five up to nine and considers it as a huge problem for rule of law in Georgia. “It is time to build a real rule of law in Georgia when all citizens get justice and fair trial within national courts and not in Europe,” says Kandashvili.

Kandashvili briefly described the two recent cases that Georgia lost in Europe:

In one case, Davit Gurgenidze claimed he was slandered in a Georgian newspaper by a well-known Georgian public figure. Gurgenidze complained that the information and his photograph published in the newspaper, as well as the verdict handed down by the Georgian courts, had violated his right to privacy. European court found a violation of 8th article of Convention in this case.

In another case, Georgian citizen Davit Danelia claimed he had been tortured while in police custody and European Court found violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Danelia had been working as a guard at the prison hospital in Tbilisi from April 1999 to October 2000. On the night of 1 October 2000, while he was on duty, twelve convicts escaped from the hospital. He was charged with professional negligence and sentenced for two years in prison. The European Court of Human Rights could not draw a conclusion on the allegations of torture but held that there had been a violation of Article 3 and 13 concerning the lack of an effective investigation.

“I think it’s a bad sign for the Georgian justice system in general, while such rulings are Vs Georgia as a state and not against of any individual, when Georgian judge rules in name of Georgia in the judgment and such a ruling is found illegal in Europe it should not be acceptable for us and that should make us think how to improve legal education in our country, that can be a basis of future fair rulings and rule of law in Georgia “ Kandashvili told Georgia Today.

1.12.2006