Communicated on 29 September 2014

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 312/10 Giorgi BEKAURI and others against Georgia lodged on 15 December 2009

STATEMENT OF FACTS

1 . A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix. They are all Georgian nationals and are represented before the Court by Ms N. Katsitadze and Ms T. Abazadze , lawyers practising in Tbilisi

2 . The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.

A. Background

3 . Between early April and late June 2009 thousands of opposition supporters held demonstrations in various parts of Tbilisi, as well as in a few other major cities of the country, on a daily basis, demanding resignation of President M. Saakashvili and his Government. All of the applicants were members of various youth opposition groups, and actively participated in those street protests. During that period there were several incidents of confrontation between law enforcement authorities and protesters.

4 . On 12 June 2009 representatives of a number of youth opposition groups, including the majority of the applicants, picketed the entrance of the Parliament of Georgia, impeding Members of Parliament from entering their workplace. The protesters attempted to create a so-called “corridor of shame”, throwing eggs and paints at and professing insults towards passing representatives of the then ruling political party. Three members of that street picket were arrested for breach of public order after the police had interefered and dislodged, using various harsh methods, the protesters from the premises of the Parliament.

B. The incident of 15 June 2009

5 . On 15 June 2009 around fifty members and supporters of various youth opposition groups, including all ten applicants, gathered in front of the Tbilisi police headquarters to protest the arrest of the three opposition activists which had occurred on 12 June 2009. The demonstration was peaceful. The protesters occupied only the pedestrian part of the street, without obstructing the traffic.

6 . After having tolerated the demonstration for some 15-20 minutes, around hundred police officers, some wearing uniforms and balaclavas and some in plain clothes, surrounded the protesters, including the applicants, and, without any prior warning, started beating them indiscriminately with rubber truncheons and wooden batons. A video footage and photographs available in the case file showed police officers chasing people, including some of the applicants, hitting them with truncheons.

7 . The applicants submitted their individual accounts of what they witnessed and suffered during the dispersal of the demonstration. Thus, according to their statements, police officers had been particularly merciless towards the protesters, intentionally beating them with all their force, using rubber truncheons, baseball bats, iron sticks and knuckle-dusters. Some of the assailing masked police officers were reported to have been yelling that demonstrations directed against the President would always be violently raided.

8 . Whilst the ninth and tenth applicants (Mr Kadagidze and Ms Kobalia ) managed to escape from the assailing police officers without receiving any injuries, the remaining eight applicants received serious traumas of different gravity, and subsequently sought medical assistance. The case file contains medical certificates confirming the existence of the relevant injuries (such as closed head traumas, concussions, lesions, bruises, open skin wounds causing bleeding, broken noses and jaws, and so on) inflicted to the above ‑ mentioned eight applicants.

9 . After the dispersal of the demonstration, many protesters, including the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants (Mr Bekauri , Mr Tchikashvili , Mr Meskhi , Mr Sabanadze , Mr Chitarishvili , Mr Maisuradze and Mr Sikharulidze ) were arrested by the police and taken inside of the police headquarters. As a retribution for having organised the picketing of the entrance of the Parliament building on 12 June 2009 and the “corridor of shame” (see paragraph 4 above), police officers first formed a human corridor, forcing the captive protesters to pass through it, whilst hitting them with rubber truncheons. Then, the arrested protesters, including the applicants, were ordered to lie on the ground, whilst officers were marching and spitting on them, kicking with boots and hitting with rubber and baseball bats.

C. Judicial-administrative proceedings initiated against six applicants

10 . After the ill-treatment at the Tbilisi police headquarters, the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants Mr Tchikashvili , Mr Meskhi , Mr Sabanadze , Mr Chitarishvili , Mr Maisuradze and Mr Sikharulidze ) were taken by the police to Tbilisi City Court.

11 . As to the first applicant (Mr Bekauri ), he was let to go from the police headquarters apparently due to his particularly severe injuries (thus, with his jaws and other face bones broken, his face was badly swollen, bleeding, and he could not even talk or breath normally).

12 . After having conducted separate trials in a summary manner, by putting a few questions to the parties, which overall lasted no more than 5 ‑ 10 minutes, different judges of the Tbilisi City Court found, by their decisions of 15 June 2009, the six applicants guilty of breach of public order and resistance to lawful order of police officers.

13 . With the exception of the sixth applicant (Mr Maisuradze ), the remaining five applicants were not able to benefit from legal assistance during the trial.

14 . Whilst the second, third, fourth and fifth applicants (Mr Tchikashvili , Mr Meskhi , Mr Sabanadze and Mr Chitarishvili ) were sentenced to administrative detention for the duration of 30 days, the sixth and seventh ones (Mr Maisuradze and Mr Sikharulidze ) were ordered to pay a fine of 400 Georgian Laris (some 180 Euros) each.

15 . The second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants (Mr Tchikashvili , Mr Meskhi , Mr Chitarishvili , Mr Maisuradze and Mr Sikharulidze ) appealed, on 23 June 2009, against their convictions of 15 June 2009. Their appeals were rejected as inadmissible by the Tbilisi Court of Appeals, which sat in camera, on 24, 25, 26 and 29 June 2009.

16 . As to the fourth applicant (Mr Sabanadze ), he failed to appeal against his conviction of 15 June 2009 due to the fact of not having been served with its written copy

17 . The second, third, fourth and fifth applicants (Mr Tchikashvili , Mr Meskhi , Mr Sabanadze and Mr Chitarishvili ) served their prison terms of thirty days in short-term remand prison no. 2 of the Ministry of the Interior. According to them, material conditions of their detention were poor, and no medical care was provided to them. However, according to the available case materials, none of them ever voiced their grievances in that respect either before the prison administration, the Ministry of the Interior or any other competent authority. No copy of the applicant ’ s medical prison log has been submitted. According to the scarce information discernable from the case materials, some of the applicants were apparently consulted by doctors in prison, as they were prescribed with painkillers and certain other unidentified drugs.

D. Applicants ’ criminal complaints

18 . On 19 June 2009 the first, third, fifth, sixth and eighth applicants ( Mr Bekauri , Mr Meskhi , Mr Chitarishvili , Mr Maisuradze and Mr Tsuladze ) filed criminal complaints with the Chief Public Prosecutor ’ s office with respect to their ill-treatment by police officers during the dispersal of the street protest as well as inside of the Tbilisi police headquarters on 15 June 2009.

19 . Subsequently, on 9 and 20 July and 3 August 2009 the same five applicants enquired about a progress in the investigation, if any.

20 . On 17 August 2009 the Tbilisi City prosecutor ’ s office replied to the above-mentioned five applicants that a criminal investigation had been launched into a possible police abuse during the incident of 15 June 2009. However, given that none of the applicants had been given any procedural standing in relation to those criminal proceedings, no information about the investigation could be disclosed to them.

21 . According to the case file, except for the above-mentioned five applicants, no other applicants ever attempted to file criminal complaints about the police abuse committed during the incident of 15 June 2009.

COMPLAINTS

22 . With the exception of the ninth and tenth applicants, all the remaining eight applicants (Messrs Bekauri , Tchikashvili , Meskhi , Sabanadze , Chitarishvili , Maisuradze , Sikharulidze and Tsuladze ) complain that they were subjected to ill-treatment by the police during the dispersal of the demonstration as well as inside of the Tbilisi police headquarters and that no effective investigation has been conducted in this respect.

23 . Citing Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention, the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants (Messrs Tchikashvili , Meskhi , Sabanadze , Chitarishvili , Maisuradze , Sikharulidze and Tsuladze ) complain that their summary trials had been a pure formality, and that they were not explained any of their procedural rights and did not have sufficient time and facilities to prepare for their defence or to appoint lawyer.

24 . All ten applicants also complain that the violent disruption of their demonstration by the police on 15 June 2009 amounted to a breach of their rights under Article 11 of the Convention.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Were the first, third, fifth, sixth and eighth applicants (Mr Bekauri , Mr Meskhi , Mr Chitarishvili , Mr Maisuradze and Mr Tsuladze ) subjected to ill-treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, during the dispersal of the demonstration as well as inside of the Tbilisi police headquarters on 15 June 2009?

1.1 Have the competent domestic authorities conducted an adequate investigation into the above-mentioned applicants ’ allegations of ill ‑ treatment, as required by the procedural obligation under Article 3 of the Convention?

2. Was Article 6 § 1 of the Convention under its criminal head applicable to the judicial proceedings conducted against the sixth and seventh applicants (Mr Maisuradze and Mr Sikharulidze ) in the present case?

- In the light of the requirement of exhaustion of all effective domestic remedies under Article 35 § 1 of the Convention, what is the significance of the fourth applicant ’ s ( Mr Sabanadze ) failure to appeal against his conviction of 15 June 2009 for the purposes of his complaints under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention?

2.1 In view of the manner in which the relevant judicial proceedings were conducted against the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants (Mr Tchikashvili , Mr Meskhi , Mr Sabanadze , Mr Chitarishvili , Mr Maisuradze and Mr Sikharulidze ), did they have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?

- In particular, were the above-mentioned six applicants afforded adequate time and facilities to prepare their defence, as required by Article 6 § 3 (b) of the Convention?

- Were the second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh applicants able to defend themselves through legal assistance of their own choosing, as required by Article 6 § 3 (c) of the Convention?

3. Have the second, fourth, seventh, ninth and tenth applicants ( Mr Tchikashvili , Mr Sabanadze , Mr Sikharulidze , Mr Kadagidze and Ms Kobalia ) exhausted all effective domestic remedies, as required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention, for their complaints under Article 11 of the Convention?

3.1. In view of the dispersal of the street protest of 15 June 2009 by the police, in which all ten applicants participated, has there been a violation of their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, contrary to Article 11 of the Convention?

Appendix

N o

Firstname

LASTNAME

Year of birth

Place of residence

Ill-treated during dispersal

Ill-treated in the police headquarters

Convicted

Type of sentence

Complaint about police abuse lodged

Mr Giorgi BEKAURI

(“the first applicant”)

1988Dusheti , Georgia

YES

YES

NO

-----

YES

Mr Merab TCHIKASHVILI

(“the second applicant”)

1976Tbilisi, Georgia

YES

YES

YES

DETENTION

NO

Mr Mikheil MESKHI

(“the third applicant”)

1985Tbilisi, Georgia

YES

YES

YES

DETENTION

YES

Mr Giorgi SABANADZE

(“the fourth applicant”)

1986Tbilisi, Georgia

YES

YES

YES

DETENTION

NO

Mr Giorgi CHITARISHVILI

(“the fifth applicant”)

1988,

Kvareli , Georgia

YES

YES

YES

DETENTION

YES

Mr Vakhtang MAISURADZE

(“the sixth applicant”)

1986Tbilisi, Georgia

YES

YES

YES

FINE

YES

Mr Giorgi SIKHARULIDZE

(“the seventh applicant”)

1989Kutaisi, Georgia

YES

YES

YES

FINE

NO

Mr Luka TSULADZE

(“the eighth applicant”)

1980Tbilisi, Georgia

YES

NO

NO

-------

YES

Mr Zurab KADAGIDZE

(“the ninth applicant”)

1987Tbilisi, Georgia

NO

NO

NO

-------

NO

Ms Natia KOBALIA

(“the tenth applicant”)

1982Tbilisi, Georgia

NO

NO

NO

-------

NO