Justice Ministry: Strasbourg Court rejects Giorgi Mamaladze’s complaint

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has declared Giorgi Mamaladze’s second complaint inadmissible, according to a statement from the Georgian Ministry of Justice.

The Court found no evidence to support Mamaladze’s claim that his communications with his lawyer had been secretly wiretapped. This marked his second application to the Court.

“Mamaladze’s first complaint concerned the so-called ‘cyanide case,’ in which the Court upheld the original verdict and found no violation of his right to a fair trial. In its decision dated November 3, 2022, the Court ruled that the sodium cyanide evidence was lawfully obtained and reliable. The second complaint alleged that secret surveillance of Mamaladze’s phone conversations with his lawyer prevented him from freely submitting his initial application. This claim was linked to a 2021 report by Mtavari Arkhi, which accused the State Security Service of illegally collecting data on clergy and public figures in 2019–2020, allegedly including wiretaps of Mamaladze’s legal communications.

However, the Court found no proof of such surveillance and emphasized that Mamaladze was able to file his complaint without delay and submit extensive supporting documentation. It concluded that his access to justice had not been impeded and dismissed the case as ‘manifestly unfounded’,” the Ministry said.

Mamaladze was arrested at Tbilisi International Airport in February 2017 after law enforcement officers discovered cyanide in his possession. The Interior Ministry later announced that he had planned the assassination of the Patriarch’s secretary, Shorena Tetruashvili.