Communicated on 15 September 2014

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 65969/09 Dachi TSAGURIA against Georgia lodged on 7 December 2009

STATEMENT OF FACTS

1 . The applicant, Mr Dachi Tsaguria, is a Georgian national, who was born in 1982 and lives in Tbilisi.

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

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. During that period there were several incidents where the police used allegedly excessive force against demonstrators. The present application concern one of such incidents, which occurred on 15 June 2009.

4 . Notably, on that day approximately fifty members and supporters of a youth opposition group, of which the applicant was the leader, gathered in front of the Tbilisi police headquarters to protest the arrest of opposition activists which had occurred a few days earlier. After having tolerated the demonstration for no more than 15-20 minutes, police officers, some wearing uniform and balaclavas and some in plain clothes, surrounded the demonstrators and started beating them indiscriminately with rubber truncheons and wooden batons. A video footage and photographs available in the case file showed police officers chasing the applicant and other demonstrators, hitting them with truncheons. As a result, seventeen demonstrators sought medical assistance at a hospital for their injuries, including two persons who remained hospitalised with severe injuries.

5 . After the dispersal of the demonstration, many participants, including the applicant, were arrested by the police and taken inside of the building of the police headquarters. According to the applicant, police officers made the captive demonstrators, including himself , lay on the ground, kicking and heating them with truncheons and baseball bats. The beating of the demonstrators was accompanied with spitting upon them and verbal insults yelled by the perpetrating police officers.

6 . On the same day, 15 June 2009, the applicant, together with a number of other leaders of the youth opposition organisation, was charged with administrative offences of breach of public order and resistance to lawful order of a police officer. A written record of the applicant ’ s arrest contained a brief description of the applicant ’ s physical condition, according to which numerous bruises and lesions were noticeable on his spine and face.

7 . As submitted by the applicant, without having been granted sufficient time and facility to study the case materials or to appoint a lawyer, the applicant was immediately taken from the Tbilisi police headquarters to an administrative tribunal.

8 . By a decision of 15 June 2009, the Tbilisi City Court, having briefly heard oral statements from the applicant and the police officer who had been at the place of the dispersal of the demonstrators, found the applicant guilty of the administrative offences with which he had been charged a few hours earlier. Notably, the court found it established that the applicant had been professing insults towards police officers in a street and continued to do so event despite a police officer ’ s warning. The applicant was sentenced to administrative detention for the duration of thirty days.

9 . The applicant was then escorted, in the evening of 15 June 2009, from the Tbilisi City Court to a short remand prison no. 2 of the Ministry of the Interior. Upon his placement in that prison, the applicant underwent a visual examination by a doctor, the results of which confirmed again the existence of numerous large bruises and other lesions all over his body – the spine, the chest, the shoulders, both hands – as well as on his face.

10 . On 16 and 17 June 2009 the applicant, referring to his severe beating by police officers during the dispersal of the demonstration as well as after his arrest in the Tbilisi police headquarter, requested the Chief Public Prosecutor ’ s Office to launch an investigation into those two separate episodes of police abuse.

11 . On 16, 17, 22 and 25 June 2009 the applicant repeatedly complained to the Governor of the short remand prison no. 2 that he had not been provided with adequate medical care for his traumas received as a result of his beating by the police on 15 June 2009. In particular, he requested to be examined by a neuropathologist . He also complained about unsanitary conditions of his detention, noting, in particular, the absence of any hygienic items in his cell and the inability to take a shower.

12 . On 22 June 2009 the applicant appealed against the Tbilisi City Court ’ s decision of 15 June 2009, complaining that he had not been explained any of his procedural rights upon the arrest and had not been given a possibility of appointing a lawyer.

13 . On 23 June 2009 the applicant was examined by private medical experts who confirmed the existence of marks of ill-treatment all over his body and also suggested that the applicant had a closed head injury, concussion.

14 . By a decision of 25 June 2009, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals dismissed the applicant ’ s appeal and upheld his conviction of 15 June 2009. In its reasoning part, the court noted, amongst other things, that the applicant had not requested assistance of a lawyer before the lower court. With respect to the latter finding, the applicant subsequently filed an interlocutory complaint, denouncing that statement as untrue, but his complaint was rejected for a procedural reason.

15 . On 15 July 2009 the Chief Public Prosecutor ’ s Office transmitted the applicant ’ s criminal complaints of 16 and 17 June 2009 to the Tbilisi City prosecutor ’ s office for further action.

16 . On 27 August 2009 the applicant enquired with the prosecution authority about a progress in the investigation launched with respect to his criminal complaints against the police abuses on 15 June 2009, if any . No reply followed.

COMPLAINTS

17 . The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention about his ill-treatment by the police during the dispersal of the demonstration and inside of the Tbilisi police headquarters on 15 June 2009. He also complains under the same provision that he was withheld adequate medical care in the short remand prison no. 2 and that the material conditions of his detention were degrading given that he was not given a possibility to maintain personal hygiene in prison.

18 . Citing Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention, the applicant complains that he was not explained any of his procedural rights and did not have sufficient time and facilities to prepare for his defence or to appoint a lawyer.

19 . The applicant also complains that the violent disruption of the demonstration by the police, in which he participated together with his supporters, as well as the subsequent imposition of the administrative detention amounted to a breach of his right under Article 11 of the Convention.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Was the applicant 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?

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

2. Have the competent State agencies taken all necessary measures to provide the applicant with requisite medical care for his traumas in prison, in accordance with their obligations under Article 3 of the Convention?

3. Did the material conditions of the applicant ’ s detention in short remand prison no. 2 of the Ministry of the Interior, notably the alleged inability to maintain personal hygiene, amount to ill-treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention?

4. In view of the manner in which the relevant judicial proceedings were conducted against the applicant, did he have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charged against them, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?

- In particular, was the applicant afforded adequate time and facilities to prepare his defence , as required by Article 6 § 3 (b) of the Convention?

- Was the applicant able to defend himself through legal assistance of his, own choosing, as required by Article 6 § 3 (c) of the Convention?

5. In view of the dispersal of the demonstration by the police and the applicant ’ s conviction on 15 June 2009, has there been a violation of his right to freedom of peaceful assembly, contrary to Article 11 of the Convention?