European Court passes three more guilty verdicts against Georgia

Salome Achba, www.humanrightshouse.org

European Court of Human Rights passed guilty verdicts on Georgian state in three cases. They are: “Jashi vs Georgia,” “Jeladze vs Georgia” and “Baisuev and Anzorov vs Georgia.” In the first two cases the ECHR concluded violation of the Article III of the European Convention on Human Rights (torture, inhuman and degrading treatment) and violation of the Article V Part 2 of the Convention (right to liberty and security). All three cases were sent to the European Court of Human Rights by Human Rights House Tbilisi member local nongovernmental organization Article 42 of the Constitution.

Based on the judgments of the ECHR, Georgian state shall pay 3 000 Euro to Jashi, 500-500 Euros to Baisuev and Anzorov and 5 000 Euro to Jeladze as compensations.

According to local human rights defenders, number of applications sent to the Strasbourg Court increased. The European Court sent several recommendations to the Georgian state to discuss and resolve cases in national courts that will discharge the Strasbourg Court from numerous cases filed from different countries.

“Jashi vs Georgia”

European Court concluded in the case Jashi vs Georgia that when applicant was in prison, Georgian state failed to provide the prisoner with relevant psychiatric assistance that is inhuman and degrading treatment and breaches Article 3 of the European Convention. Prison administration did not execute the 2006 court judgment, which obliged them to conduct obligatory psychiatric examination of prisoners, who had clear signs of psychic problems. Meanwhile, the applicant attempted to commit suicide three times in different circumstances.

Representatives of the Article 42 of the Constitution said unfortunately, Georgian state continues violation of the rights of prisoners with psychic problems in penitentiary establishments because they are not provided with adequate psychiatric treatment. Court judgments, that oblige the state to conduct obligatory psychiatric treatment of the convicted, still remain unexecuted in several cases.

For example, during their visit in Georgia in 2010, Committee for the Prevention of Torture at the Council of Europe (CPT) discovered there were inmates in Tbilisi Prison # 7, “who required obligatory psychiatric treatment based on relevant court judgments, but they had not received any.”

 

Nowadays, Code on Imprisonment does not require initial psychiatric examination of new inmates when they enter custody. The Code does not require regular psychiatric examination of prisoners either. Besides, there are no special, isolated places for the prisoners with psychiatric problems in custodies. As a result, inmates with psychic problems often stay together with other inmates of the penitentiary establishment and cannot receive relevant medical treatment.

“Jeladze vs Georgia”

European Court concluded in the case Jeladze vs Georgia (December 18, 2012) that applicant was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment when the state did not implement its duty to provide him with adequate medical treatment when he was sick with C Hepatitis. The applicant was not screened for C Hepatitis Virus during his first three year stay in custody. Even when disease symptoms became evident, government refused the applicant to provide him with medical treatment. Because of his conditions, Jeladze could not receive relevant medical treatment until his lawyer appealed to the European Court of Human Rights on the interim measure in 2008. Besides, the prison administration did not provide the applicant with the availability of information about his health conditions.

In 2010, during their visit in Georgia, Committee for the Prevention of Torture revealed several errors in the medical service provided for prisoners. The CPT noted that medical records in the prison “did not meet standards and did not provide enough details;” new inmates of the penitentiary establishments are not always medically examined; Ministry of Penitentiary does not hire enough doctors and nurses to ensure adequate medical treatment for every prisoner. 

Baisuev and Anzorov vs Georgia

European Court concluded in the case Baisuev and Anzorov vs Georgia (December 18, 2012) that the Georgian state had breached right to freedom and personal security of the applicants when they were detained for the identification of their personalities without clarifying motive of their detention. In 2002, police arrested applicants - Chechen refugees, who legally lived in Tbilisi, to check their ID cards. European Court concluded that this detention was willful because it was did not conform to the national law. Additionally, the authority could not document the detention fact that absolutely neglected and gravely breached fundamental guarantees provided by the Convention. The Court could not accept the government’s arguments and underscored that even if state security is under danger, the state shall not breach right to freedom and personal security of a person. The Court also concluded violation of the Convention because the applicants were not clarified motives of their detention.

Board Chairwoman of the nongovernmental organization Article 42 of the Constitution Tamar Gabisonia said number of applications sent to the European Court has increased. “Based on our observation and personal experience, we can declare that number of applications to the European Court has increased recently. It might be caused by more frequent violation of human rights in Georgia and raised public awareness about the European Court among Georgian society – citizens already know that if they cannot restitute justice on the national level, they can appeal to the ECHR. Mostly, ECHR receive cases on inhuman and degrading treatment of inmates in Georgian prisons.”

European Court has recommended to the Georgian state to do its best to reach agreements with applicants on the national level in order to send as few applications to the Strasbourg Court as possible.

Whilst the number of cases sent to the Strasbourg Court from Georgia is increasing, the Ministry of Justice of Georgia aims to discharge European Court from the cases sent from Georgia.

Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani said Georgia has already reached preliminary agreement with the ECHR on discharging the European Court from about 700 ungrounded cases.

“Earlier or later, the Court will pass guilty verdicts on our state in those cases. Consequently, we will have to pay huge compensations to applicants that will seriously damage the budget. As soon as the ECHR individually notifies us about ongoing cases, we will start negotiations with the applicants to reach agreement.”

Tsulukiani said they will also start negotiations with potential applicants of the Strasbourg Court, who have not yet sent applicants to the ECHR and the Ministry will try to resolve their cases on the national level.

Representatives of the human rights organizations positively evaluate the initiative of the Ministry of Justice.

“European Court has been somehow overwhelmed by high number of cases for the last few years. The initiative of the Ministry of Justice to start negotiations with the applicants of the Strasbourg Court on the national level will be significant relief for the ECHR. However, the purpose of the negotiations with the applicants shall not be only compensation. It is urgently important to eradicate those judiciary problems, that compel Georgian citizens to appeal to the European Court,” board chair of the Article 42 Tamar Gabisonia said.

About 6 000 cases were sent to the Strasbourg Court from 2005 to 2012. According to the statistic data, Strasbourg Court received most applications from Georgia in 2008 (1771applications) and then in 2009 (2122 applications).

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