Case of Vladimer Vakhania to be Transferred to ECHR

Tbilisi City Court did not satisfy the administrative complaint of the leader of political party United Georgia Vladimer Vakhania who is acknowledged to be a political prisoner by the Georgian human rights defenders.

As the lawyer of Vakhania Soso Baratashvili stated to the news agency Pirveli, the defense side appealed to the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance with the request of conditional release of convict.

“In case the judge made a positive decision regarding the complaint, the case of Vakhania would have been transferred to verbal hearing and it would have been decided afterwards whether the council would satisfy the request to release Vakhania conditionally. However, the court did not satisfy our complaint. Vakhania absolutely satisfied the criteria for conditional release. He has been tried for committing minor crime. He has served more than half of the term of sentence; he has not been tried in the past; he does not have a negative characterization; he has never received a reprimand; he has an unemployed wife and two children… According to the General Administrative Code, this complaint did not need to be discussed by the judge. However, he decided that our arguments are groundless. The court decided that Vakhania should have confessed the crime. But, how can a person confess the crime that he has not committed?!” – stated Baratashvili who is going to appeal against the decision of Tbilisi City Court to the Appellate court.

“I do not hope for the objective decision of court. We are addressing the international human rights organizations and all Georgian court instances to use this theme as an additional topic for the complaint to be sent to Strasbourg Court,” – stated Baratashvili.

The leader of United Georgia Vladimer Vakhania was detained in March of 2009 in the city of Zugdidi during the protest rally. The law-enforcement officials charged him with the verbal assault against the journalist and illegal possession of guns.

The court passed four-year imprisonment sentence against Vakhania. The case went through all three instances and is transferred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

information agency Pirveli