“Statements that the Strasbourg-based court acts in the Japaridze-Khazaradze-Tsereteli case in expedited proceedings or within the priority is a lie,” said Beka Dzamashvili, Deputy Justice Minister.

Beka Dzamashvili clarified that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) asks the Georgian government questions, which means that the court registered the case but will decide whether to put the lawsuit into production later.

The Deputy Justice Minister further explained that the sides would have 12 weeks to reach a deal. The government will have an additional 12 weeks to submit its stance. The court would then give time to the complaint. These procedures would take approximately one year.

“The Strasbourg Court has its rules when it considers that a case should be prioritized due to its special nature. It states this directly in the letter, referring to Rule 41, and it discusses the case quickly. But in this case, nothing like that happened. If it were so, the applicants themselves would make the letter sent from the Strasbourg court public,” he said.

Badri Japaridze, a member of the opposition Lelo party, said at the February 26 briefing that the Strasbourg Court began hearing into the Japaridze-Khazaradze-Tsereteli case. He stated that the court “started hearing it in an unprecedentedly short time, and this case was given a priority.”