ECHR rules no violations to two civic activists in Tbilisi 2019 rallies, gov’t must pay €1,600 to third applicant

The European Court of Human Rights said in its recent judgment that the Georgian Dream government did not violate any of the articles of the Human Rights Convention with the arrest of the leaders of the Shame civic movement, Giga Makarashvili and Zuka Berdzenishvili, during June 2019  rallies in Tbilisi,  although two articles were violated against another demonstrator, Irakli Kacharava.

The visit of Russian legislators to the Georgian parliament, with one of them, Sergey Gavrilov, taking the seat of the parliament speaker in the country which has 20 percent of its territories occupied by Russia, sparked demonstrators in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in June 2019, with demonstrators raising several demands, including the switch to the fully proportional electoral system which the authorities later accepted. 

However, in the autumn the parliament rejected the amendments, which led to repeated demonstrations in November. 

On November 18, 2019, the police used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators who blocked the entrance to the Parliament and the road leading to it. 

That day, in total, 37 people were arrested, who were charged with disobedience and hooliganism to the police, Makarashvili,  Katcharava and  Berdzenishvili among them. 

They were accused of hooliganism and disobedience to the law enforcement. 

According to the ruling of the Strasbourg court on September 1, 2022, neither the right to a fair trial nor the freedom of assembly and association was violated against Makarashvili and Berdzenishvili.

As for Irakli Kacharava, a violation of both these articles was established against him.

The court said that the presented materials could not prove that Kacharava was among the organizers of the demonstration, or that he personally blocked the entrance to the parliament or resisted the policemen who tried to “clean” the entrance.

According to the decision of the Strasbourg court, the Georgian government must pay Kacharava 1,600 euros in compensation for non-material damages.