Ministry of Justice Noted Sandro Girgvliani’s Father about Money Transfer

Ministry of Justice of Georgia notified Sandro Girgvliani’s father Guram Girgvliani about the transfer of the money on his bank account that was requested by the Strasbourg Court.

The family lawyer Shalva Shavgulidze told the news agency Pirveli that they have already been informed about the transfer of 50 375 Euro though he cannot confirm whether the money is really on Guram Girgvliani’s bank account or not; the father of the killed young man is in Svaneti and has not checked his account yet.

As for repeated investigation of Girgvliani’s case, the lawyer said the Ministry of Justice has somehow surrendered.

“When asked about the intended activities in order to execute the Strasbourg Court’s verdict on Girgvliani’s case, the ministry stated “in order to effectively execute the court judgment they would cooperate with the ministers’ committee of the Council of Europe.” Georgian society remembers the position of the deputy Minister of Justice Titanit Burjaliani regarding the case. The ministry of justice acknowledged only its obligation to cover the imposed reimbursement, but as for violation of other articles of the European Convention, they did not agree with it unambiguously. This ambiguous reply from Adeishvili’s ministry is kind of compromise. Apparently, the Ministry is waiting for the positions of the CoE’s ministers’ committee which observes the execution process of the Strasbourg Court’s verdicts and the issue has remained unaddressed,” said the lawyer.

The defense side expressed its trust towards the Ministers’ Committee of the CoE in execution of the verdict and relatively sent corresponding application to them.

“We believe that the government of Georgia will amend shortcomings detected by the European Court of Human Rights under supervision of the CoE’s Ministers’ Committee. According to the Strasbourg Court’s judgment, the government of Georgia shall repeatedly investigate the criminal case in order to expose both murderers and those who ordered the murder. In addition, the prosecutors, who falsified the case materials, shall be held responsible before the court and sanctions shall be imposed on the judges of all three instances of the national courts. By the way, the Ukrainian court started repeated investigation of journalist Gongadze’s murder based on the resolution of the CoE’s Ministers’ Committee and we also hope similar precedent will take place in Georgia too,” said the lawyer and added that no deadlines are estimated in this direction and the defense side is waiting for the ministers’ chamber to announce their position.

The execution deadline of the Strasbourg Court’s verdict is October 26.

We kindly remind you that official Tbilisi lost trial VS Sandro Girgvliani’s family. As a result, the European Court imposed 50 000 Euro over the government of Georgia to pay to the victim family as reimbursement.

Besides that, the Court clarified that in the view of impartiality there are some doubts about the conducted investigation of the case by the Georgian law enforcement bodies.

After the Strasbourg Court’s judgment was put in motion, Girgvliani’s family was entitled to request repeated investigation of the murder.

Sandro Girgvliani was tortured in Okrokana forest close to Tbilisi on January 27, 2005 after what he died. Four officers of the Constitutional Security Department – Alanya, Bibiluridze, Gachava and Aptsiauri were detained as suspects in the murder and were later convicted to 7 and 8 years imprisonment. Later, their terms were initially suspended and finally they were early released from prison based on the president’s pardoning. Sandro Girgvliani’s family blames high-ranking officials of the MIA Vasil Sanodze, Data Akhalaia, Vasil Melnikov, Guram Donadze and wife of the Minister of Interior Vano Merabishvili – Tako Salakaia in ordering the murder.

News Agency Pirveli