On October 22, 2020, the European Court of Human Rights finalized the examination of the case Bokhonko v. Georgia. Human Rights Center represented the applicant in the ECtHR. The Court unanimously held the violation of the Article 3 (prohibition of torture) under the procedural limb and Article 6 (1) (right to fair trial) of the Convention. The Court also ruled that the respondent State shall pay EURO 10 000 to the applicant.
The case was about the 2009 incident, when the Georgian law enforcement officers detained the citizen of Ukraine O. Bokhonko and blatantly violated his human rights guaranteed under the Georgian legislation and international law. They, without the witnesses and experts, under the physical force, through degrading and discriminative manner, searched O. Bokhonko for the purpose of obtaining some evidence.
O. Bokhonko’s arrest and degrading investigative activities took place in one of the buildings of the Tbilisi International Airport. As a result of the search, the police officers, as they claimed, withdrew narcotic substance “methadone” from him.
Human Rights Center