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Girgvliani’s Case at the Committee of Ministers of the CoE

October 26, 2011

Lela Kunchulia, Radio “Liberty”

Noisy case of Sandro Girgvliani’s murder has not lost its importance and now it is now put within the competence of the Committee of Ministers at the CoE. This office supervises the execution of the Strasbourg Court’s judgments.

How big is the possibility that in accordance to the Strasbourg Court judgment Georgian state will launch repeated investigation on Sandro Girgvliani’s murder?

The Case “Enukidze and Girgvliani v Georgia can be easily found on the list of pending cases on the official website of the Committee of Ministers at the CoE. Within about one month of period the Committee of Ministers will register the case and select relevant classification of procedures for the execution of April 26 judgment of the Strasbourg Court: there are two classifications – standard or enhanced procedures.

Lawyer of the Girgvlianis’ family Davit Jandieri clarified to us that initial decision of the Committee of Ministers does not have principle importance because standard procedures are applied only when the state is ready to execute the court judgment without any obstacles. However, if the state refuses to execute the judgment, the execution schedule of the enhanced procedures will be worked out with the participation of the experts from the secretariat of the Committee of Ministers.

Lawyer Jandieri noted that fixed deadline for the execution of the judgment passed by the Strasbourg Court on April 26 in regard with Sandro Girgvliani’s case expires on October 26; nevertheless the Georgian state carried out only one procedures in this direction and transferred 50 000 Euro to the bank account of the killed Sandro Girgvliani’s father – Guram Girgvliani as it was instructed by the European Court of Human Rights.

Nobody expected more from the government considering the statements of the governmental officials, including Deputy Minister of Justice and Georgian state’s representative at the Strasbourg Court Tinatin Burjaliani, since the judgment was passed on April 26. In respond to categorical requests of the family lawyers and human rights defenders to launch repeated investigation due to serious shortcomings detected by the Strasbourg Court, Tinatin Burjaliani claimed that the European Court had not ordered the Georgian state to conduct repeated investigation.

On October 25, the Radio Liberty unsuccessfully tried to get in touch with Burjaliani. However, her recent comments show that the deputy minister has not changed her position in regard with the repeated investigation. “We will not start repeated investigation. The Court has not ordered us to repeatedly investigate the case; neither other institutions ordered us anything. We were instructed to award compensation and we have done it – we executed our obligations.”

“Strasbourg Court never directly indicates in its judgments that any party should launch repeated investigation. However, when violations similar to those mentioned in the Court’s April 26 judgment are observed, any democratic state would have launched repeated investigation of the case,” clarified a leader of the Free Democrats Tea Tsulukiani who worked at the European Court of Human Rights during 10 years.

Tsulukiani is sure that the Georgian state will have to obey the decision of the Committee of Ministers at the CoE whose members are foreign ministers of 47 CoE member states and relatively repeated investigation will be launched on Girgvliani’s case.

“The Committee of Ministers will not declare the judgment executed unless all shortcomings observed by the Court are eliminated. It is incredible. The attempt of the Georgian government to compel the Committee of Ministers to close up the case after the awarded money was transferred to the victim side and then boast about it, cannot happen because it will cause serious institutional conflict between the Strasbourg Court and its executive office – the Committee of Ministers; it is impossible,” Tea Tsulukiani told the Radio Liberty.

According to the April 26 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, investigation of Sandro Girgvliani’s murder “really lacked necessary independence, impartiality, objectivity and thoroughness.” The judgment also reads that “the Court is struck by how the different branches of State power acted in concert in preventing justice from being done in this gruesome homicide case.”

The opponents of the government also underline the circumstance that in its April 26 judgment “The Court deplores that, despite these very serious indications calling for particular caution in this regard, the authorities turned a blind eye to the applicants’ credible allegation of complicity between some of the persons from the Interior Minister’s wife’s group in the café and the direct perpetrators of the crime.”

Due to the aforementioned and other strict assessments of the investigation procedures by the Court and hoping the Committee of Ministers will make its utmost, Tea Tsulukiani is sure that society will earlier or later learn the truth in regard with Girgvliani’s case and real perpetrators will be necessarily punished. Lawyer Davit Jandieri also hopes for future procedures and he recalls the case of journalist Giorgi Gongadze’s murder whose repeated investigation started and the truth was estimated under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers at the CoE.

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