Supreme Court of Georgia Ordered the Tbilisi City Hall to Close a “Death Zone” on the Tbilisi Sea and Compensate Moral Harm to the Applicant
November 27, 2024
On November 20, 2024, the Supreme Court of Georgia granted the cassation lawsuit of the executive director of Human Rights Center Aleko Tskitishvili and ordered the Tbilisi City Hall to install barriers and warning banners in the territory of the so-called waterfall on the Tbilisi City Hall. The City Hall shall also compensate moral harm to the applicant in the amount of 25 000 GEL.
Since 2017, Aleko Tskitishvili had administrative dispute in the court, where he requested to determine the responsibility of the Tbilisi City Hall over the territory where his son drowned in 2017. With the legal aid of Human Rights Center, Tskitishvili appealed the Tbilisi City Court against the Tbilisi City Court and the Water Distribution Company GWP in the end of 2017. Due to threats nearby the so-called waterfall on the Tbilisi Sea, Aleko Tskitishvili requested the Tbilisi City Hall to take preventive measures like installing warning banners forbidding the swimming near the most dangerous site on the Tbilisi Sea and to erect a firm fence around the area.
After almost two years of court dispute, based on the ruling of Judge Natia Buskadze, the Tbilisi City Hall was ordered to install warning banners in the waterfall area and to erect a wall of 2.5 m height along the line of waterfall channel which would be impossible to overmount. The Court did not satisfy the claim of the family to get reimbursement for the moral harm from the Tbilisi City Hall in the amount of 50 000 GEL. Therefore, this part of the court ruling was appealed in the Tbilisi Appellate Court. On its turn, the Tbilisi City Hall also appealed the judgment of the Tbilisi City Court in the Appellate Court and refused to enforce the judgment claiming that the City Hall is not responsible for the prevention of similar tragedies in the city.
During the dragged-out proceedings in the Court of Appeals, representative of one of the respondent parties - the GWP - stated that the area was fenced and firm fence of concrete and iron around the area was erected by them “at the request” of Tbilisi City Hall. Following the request of the plaintiff, GWP presented relevant documents to the court. It made clear that the Tbilisi City Hall had really sent the abovementioned request to the GWP and it proved that the respondent practically satisfied the claim which was already ruled so by the first instance court. With this, the Tbilisi City Hall avoided responsibility and did not implement the court ruling that had precedential power and could affect all similar future disputes against the Tbilisi City Hall.
On October 27, 2022, the Chamber of Administrative Cases at the Tbilisi Appellate Court with presiding judge Leila Mamulashvili rejected the appeal of HRC Executive Director Aleko Tskitishvili, where he claimed the reimbursement of the moral damage from the Tbilisi City Hall and the water distribution company GWP. At the same time, the Appellate Court annulled another part of the judgment of Administrative Panel of the Tbilisi City Court, in which it instructed the Tbilisi City Hall to install warning banners and to erect fence along the dangerous site. According to the Administrative Chamber of the Appellate Court, since the GWP had already fenced the area and installed warning banners, the subject matter of the dispute no longer existed against the respondent Tbilisi City Hall. As for the reimbursement of the moral damage, the Appellate Court clarified that there is no connection between the absence of safety measures in the area and the tragedy.
Human Rights Center believes that with the October 27, 2022 judgment the Tbilisi Appellate Court groundlessly annulled the decision of the Tbilisi City Court. The organization prepared the cassation lawsuit, with which Aleko Tskitishvili appealed the Supreme Court to annul the judgment of the Appellate Court. The cassation lawsuit stated that the decision of the Chamber of Administrative Cases at the Tbilisi Appellate Court was ungrounded and shameful. If this judgment went into force, it would cause multiple tragedies on water bodies.
On November 20, 2024, the following composition of judges at the Supreme Court of Georgia granted the cassation lawsuit of Aleko Tskitishvili: Chair - Tamar Okropiridze; Judges – Ketevan Tsintsadze and Genadi Makaridze. The Court ordered the Tbilisi City Hall to conduct the action – to arrange barriers and banners near the so-called waterfall and pay 25 000 GEL to the applicant to compensate the moral harm.
The judgment of the Supreme Court is precedential, and in future, judges at common courts of Georgia will refer to this judgment as a case law when examining similar cases in the country.
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