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The First Verdict of the European Court Against Georgia

April 8, 2004

The First Verdict of the European Court of Human Rights Against Georgia

Today, at a public hearing, The European Court of Human Rights has delivered a Grand Chamber judgment [1] in the case of Assanidze v. Georgia (application no. 71503/01). This was the first case the European Court discussed regarding Georgia.

Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court awarded the applicant 150,000 euros (EUR) for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and EUR 5,000 for costs and expenses. It also held unanimously that the Georgian State had to secure the applicant’s release at the earliest possible date.

The applicant, Tengiz Assanidze, is a Georgian national who was born in 1944. He is currently in custody in Batumi, the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara in Georgia. He was formerly the mayor of Batumi and a member of the Ajarian Supreme Council.

Authorities accused Assanidze of illegal financial dealings with the Batumi Tobacco Manufacturing Company, and of unlawfully possessing and handling firearms. On November 28, 1994, prosecutors sentenced him to eight years imprisonment, and issued orders to confiscate his assets and to require him to reimburse financial losses sustained by the company. On April 27, 1995, the Supreme Court of Georgia, on an appeal on points of law, upheld the applicant’s conviction for illegal financial dealings. Georgian President Eduard Shevrednadze granted Assanidze a pardon on October 1, 1999, but Adjaran authorities still did not release him.

While Adjaran authorities continued to detain Assanidze, in spite of his Presidential pardon, prosecutors brought further charges against him on December 11, 1999, in connection with a separate case of kidnapping. On October 2, 2000, the Ajarian High Court convicted the applicant and sentenced him to twelve years imprisonment. Although the Supreme Court of Georgia subsequently acquitted him again on January 29, 2001, Ajarian authorities have yet to release him. As a result, more than three years later, he remains in custody in a cell at the Short-Term Remand Prison of the Ajarian Security Ministry.

The applicant complained that Adjaran authorities continued to hold him captive, in direct violation of his Presidential pardon and his acquital by the Surpreme Court. He relied on Article 5 §§ 1, 3 and 4, Article 6 § 1, and Articles 10 and 13 of the Convention, and Article 2 of Protocol No. 4.

 

 

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