“Just because he has schizophrenia, they have concluded that he’s a murderer”

44 years old Aleksandre Ch is diagnosed with schizophrenic disorders. Despite of this, he’s been serving a sentence for murder of her mother in Rustavi #2 common and strict regime department. According to Georgian legislation, (“The Law on Psychiatric Help”), the prison administration is obliged to  transfer this kind of a prisoner to a special hospital. After the patient goes through the treatment, he shall continue serving the sentence. There are two hospitals serving this purpose in Georgia: in Kutiri and Gldani.

The rights of Aleksandre Ch are protected by the Human Rights Center. After the Supreme Court of Georgia refused to satisfy the request of Human Rights Center to treat the patient in the hospital, the case was sent to Strasbourg Court. The court received the case into its legal proceedings and requested the information about the prisoner from the Georgian side. The Ministry of Justice representing the Georgian side explained that the conditions of the ill prisoner are satisfactory, the permanent psychosis has not been confirmed, and the person goes through the permanent treatments. This information is not confirmed by the Human Rights Center. After the address of the Human Rights Center, the European Court requested the transfer of the prisoner to the hospital no later than June 24. On the last day of this term, Aleksandre was transferred to Gldani Psychiatric Hospital.

The Human Rights Center protects the rights of Aleksandre Ch in several directions. There are many shortcomings in his criminal case. The presented evidence is obviously not sufficient.

The mother and son of Ukrainian citizenship came to Georgia in 2008 and brought considerable amount of money. Their apartment was situated in the first floor of the apartment building. It was not hard to climb through the window to get in the apartment. The Center considers that the pillage attack possibility shall not be excluded: the murder can be committed by someone else and then Aleksandre being blamed for it.

“There is no evidence that talks about the murder of mother by the son. As I know he wasn’t even at home when the murder was committed. There are no fingerprints discovered. But even if it was, it doesn’t mean anything since he lived in that place. Also, that money was never found in his belongings. The most interesting detail is that this kind of a verdict would not have been issued by the Court, if this person was healthy. The only reason he was proved guilty is that he’s ill with schizophrenia,” – states Olga Kalona, the coordinator of the project “Legal help for people ill with psychical problems.”

According to the Human Rights Center lawyer, Nikoloz legashvili, the documents and medical conclusions presented in this case confirm that Ukrainian citizen Aleksandze Ch, who can’t read and has limited speaking skills in Georgian, has never had a translator during the court proceedings, so he practically could not understand what was going on and blindly signed the papers. Also, Aleksandre Ch is ill with psychotic disorders and pseudo psychopathic schizophrenia. So, he could not participate in the legal investigation proceedings. Despite the above mentioned, the Criminal Chamber of Tbilisi Appellate Court confirmed the 2009 verdict with the verdict of March 24, 2009.

According to Nikoloz Legashvili, the following articles have been violated in this case: article 6 (the right to a fair trial), article 12 (the right for an effective remedy before national authorities for violations of rights under the convention) and 12th additional protocol (discrimination prohibition).
Olga Kalina considers that the prisoner is in a serious situation. Schizophrenia is a serious illness considering that his case is permanent. If this person doesn’t receive treatment soon, he will be in a serious danger. People with schizophrenia often refuse to eat; they can easily commit suicide, since they have hallucinating that they can do jump from the window, conduct some military operation and etc.

The prisoner can be a danger for other prisoners. This kind of a person often becomes aggressive towards others, yells and has hallucinations.

According to Olga Kalan, it’s not strange to transfer the prisoner ill with schizophrenia to the hospital. She recalls the case of Sergo M, when the prisoner was going through treatments in Kutiri hospital.

Aleksandre Ch’s father, who is a famous scientist in Moscow addressed the Georgian embassy with the request of his deportation, but was refused to satisfy the request.

The case of Aleksandre Ch is the first case sent to USA regarding the psychical problems of prisoner.