The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered the Georgian authorities to pay €153,600 to the victims of the Gavrilov Night crackdown. The court recognized that Georgia had ineffectively investigated the actions of the police and special forces. This was reported by NewsGeorgia, according to UNN.
Details
We are talking about the events of the night of June 21, 2019, when thousands of people took to the streets in Tbilisi to protest against the arrival in the country and a speech in parliament by Russian State Duma deputy Sergei Gavrilov. Police then used tear gas, water cannons, and fired rubber bullets at people on Rustaveli Avenue. More than 240 people were injured, including 80 police officers and 30 journalists.
The victims appealed to the ECHR, combining 26 complaints from injured protesters and journalists under the title Tsaava and Others v. Georgia.
The ECtHR concluded that although the Georgian authorities had launched an investigation into these events, the explanations provided by the authorities were not sufficient to justify the lack of adequate efforts to continue the main lines of investigation, and this situation had been observed in recent years.
The Court noted that one of the problems for the Georgian investigation was the inability to identify the law enforcement officers who fired the rubber bullets because they did not have identification marks. However, the court believes that all injuries caused by the use of such special means are sufficient to invoke Article 3 of the ECHR.
The Court found a violation of Art. 3 only in procedural, not substantive terms, taking into account the complex nature of the investigation, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that many applicants had lodged their complaints in advance. The Court noted that a substantive analysis could not be carried out until the investigation was completed in Georgia.
However, Georgia was obliged to pay compensation to the victims in the amount of 1800 to 15 thousand euros within three months.
The state will also have to pay 6,000 euros for court costs and taxes that may be imposed on the recipients of compensation.
Recall
More than 30 MEPs have called for the suspension of Georgia's EU candidate status due to attempts to silence peaceful protesters in order to pass a law similar to Russia's "foreign agents" law, which contradicts EU commitments.