Deputy Justice Minister: Georgia presented ECHR with evidence of Russian torture and right-to-life violations as third-party intervener

“This is yet another victory for our country and the people of Georgia, because it was our absolute duty and objective to defend, on the one hand, the honour of our country, and on the other, the dignity of our servicemen in international courts,” stated Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili.

According to Dzamashvili, the Georgian government intervened as a third party in the Strasbourg case concerning the violation of the right to life and torture by Russia during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.

“For our administration, litigating cases before international courts is of strategic significance, particularly when it pertains to the August 2008 War. As the public is well aware, the state has hitherto won every single legal dispute against the Russian Federation, both in the Strasbourg and The Hague courts. Today’s ruling concerned prisoners of war who were tortured during the conflict, some of whom were tortured to death.

In its judgement, the European Court relied upon the violations already established in the previous inter-State case, and also referenced the factual circumstances determined by the court in The Hague. The Georgian government was involved in this case as a third-party intervener. Regarding this specific issue, we had submitted robust evidence and arguments demonstrating that the Russian side had committed torture and violated the right to life of specific individuals.
This is yet another victory for our country and the people of Georgia, because it was our absolute duty and objective to defend, on the one hand, the honour of our country, and on the other, the dignity of our servicemen in international courts,” Dzamashvili stated.

Dzamashvili further noted that the Georgian government managed the litigation in a way that completely turned around cases that had been mishandled and lost by the previous administration.

“As for the specific organisation and accusations of them acting as agents, I was reluctant to comment on this, but this is the very organisation that, through individual applications, accused Georgia and Georgian servicemen of shelling Tskhinvali. The Georgian government conducted these proceedings in such a manner that we reversed the compromised and lost cases left by the previous administration, successfully defending the honour of our country, our population, and our soldiers.

The facts that [Giorgi] Antsukhelidze, Khubuluri, and Sopromadze were tortured were already established in that case, completely independent of this NGO. As today’s judgment explicitly states, these individuals were already included in the previously State-won case.

The organisation should have defended the interests of Antsukhelidze, every Georgian citizen, and Georgia itself, rather than filing a complaint against the state over the shelling of Tskhinvali. Our efforts would have been entirely in vain had we lost their case, which would have legally established the shelling of Tskhinvali. Antsukhelidze’s case had to go forward; all of them had to go forward, the government itself took them on, and we intervened as a third party, but cases alleging that Georgian soldiers shelled Tskhinvali should never have been pursued. We do not need organisations that accuse Georgia of shelling Tskhinvali,” Dzamashvili declared.

For context, the Strasbourg Court has held Russia responsible for the torture and murder of Giorgi Antsukhelidze and other Georgian servicemen. The lawsuit was originally filed in the Strasbourg Court by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA).