When the justice system in the state is not independent, different branches of government are intertwined and reinforce each other’s interest; When inaction, indifference or violence on the part of law enforcement agencies is a widespread practice, the citizen remains alone in the face of the state.

Legal support from non-governmental organizations is often the only solution for the majority of citizens in such circumstances – most of them do not have the appropriate financial ability to take care of protecting their own interests, and free support is not an alternative. In this sense, it is particularly important that the possibility of said assistance is guaranteed by the existence of strong non-governmental organizations, their smooth operation and credibility. However, when the government starts an open fight with non-governmental organizations, the fate of citizens is called into question, and as a counterbalance to this, state agencies, if they wish, are given more space to violate the rights of citizens without being asked to answer.

In this article, we will tell you about three important cases in which the involvement of non-governmental organizations was of crucial importance.

The Case of Femicide and Police Inaction

On October 17, 2014, Lasha Maghradze approached his ex-wife Marika Tsivtsivadze at work at Ilia State University, killed her with a firearm and committed suicide.

Even before the last episode of the attack, the police had information that the accused was first abusing his wife, then his ex-wife and threatening to kill her. Nevertheless, the police did nothing to prevent the possible murder.

As we read in the complaint submitted to the Human Rights Court of Strasbourg, the victim contacted the police and called the patrol crew at least 11 times before taking her life, including the day before the murder, on October 16, she called the police and reported that while she was taking her son to school, her ex-husband chased her with a car. All she was told in response was to call the police if her ex-husband approached or assaulted her, according to the case file. On the same day, the victim’s mother came to the police, who noted that her daughter’s life was in danger and requested state protection. The police recorded the statement, but did not issue a warrant or take any other restraining measures. The next day, Marika Tsivtsivadze was killed at work. The investigation was started on the fact of double murder and illegal possession of firearms, which was later added to the motive of domestic violence – the investigation was stopped on December 31 of the same year, because the person responsible for the crime was dead.

On April 8, 2015, the mother of the victim, Taliko Tkhelidze, with the help of the Sapari organization, appealed to the District Prosecutor and requested the initiation of an investigation against the policemen on the grounds of official indifference. This did not result in a response, after which the woman repeatedly submitted a complaint, where it was also discussed about discrimination on the basis of gender, but again to no avail. That year and the following year, the petitioner filed a number of complaints seeking attention. In 2017, the case was sent to the Strasbourg Human Rights Court, and in December of the same year, the Tbilisi City Court ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay moral damages to both Taliko Tkhelidze and the murdered woman’s son – in the form of monthly maintenance until they reach adulthood. However, beyond the award of moral damages, it was particularly important that those responsible for negligence were punished, which was not the case.

The Strasbourg Court deliberated and issued a judgment in 2021 stating that “the law enforcement authorities have shown a long-term inability to take steps that could actually change the tragic outcome or reduce the harm. In outrageous disregard of the many safeguards directly available to them, the authorities failed to take special care to prevent gender-based violence against the applicant’s daughter, culminating in her death. “Comparing with similar results of international and national monitoring bodies, the court concludes that the inaction of the police in this case can be considered a system failure.”

According to the decision of the Strasbourg Court, the Second Article of the Human Rights Convention was violated in conjunction with Article 14, which implies a violation of the right to life and a discriminatory approach. The court imposed compensation for moral damages to the applicant of Georgia.

Sapari’s lawyer, Ekaterine Muzashvili, told Aprili Media that those police officers, whose indifference to their duty killed the woman, were not punished, they were not even identified, and this is what happens when the guilt of a member of the system is revealed.

“As in the case of other cases of similar severity, where the guilt of the employees of the public agency is identified, the state is trying to delay the case. No person is responsible,” Ekaterine tells us.

The lawyer also points out that it is much easier to achieve a result when the defendants are those who are part of the system, but do business at the lower level, while when the matter concerns the superior persons, the case may drag on helplessly and ultimately be fruitless.

According to Ekaterine, in similar cases, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor’s Office do nothing, and the employee of the state agency is responsible, the only hope is a non-governmental organization. Often, an NGO’s attempt to publicize the case and thus bring it under the spotlight is followed by results, but even in this case it is selective as to who is required to respond legally and who is not.

Ekaterine Muzashvili tells us that the government’s attack on non-governmental organizations increases the risk of citizens being left alone, without the possibility of support.

Individual Claims of Victims of the August War in Strasbourg

The Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia defends the interests of more than 350 people affected by the war of August 2008 and citizens affected by the creeping occupation of Russia in the Human Rights Court of Strasbourg.

Dozens of complaints filed on behalf of victims of the August war concern the killing of civilians, ill-treatment, looting and destruction of their property. The mentioned complaints, together with the existing case between the states, create the international legal basis that will strengthen the position of Georgia in the international arena, and give the affected citizens and their family members the opportunity to find justice.

SAIA lawyer Davit Javakhishvili told Aprili Media that due to the strategic, state importance of the case, when they were working to present it in Strasbourg, it was of crucial importance to collect evidence with the involvement of the state, and when talking about the creeping occupation, they called for archival materials that would strengthen the arguments named in the lawsuit.

“When talking about the interest of state agencies, it should be noted that we are facing different conditions. Some of the agencies are committed to effective cooperation, but there are and were institutions that did not respond to us, ignored us and delayed the process, in fact hindered us in our activities,” David tells us, adding that winning cases is one thing, but the active involvement of the state in the enforcement part is especially important, which may make possible to grant compensation to citizens.

“In the implementation part, the return of IDPs to their place of residence may be an obligation assigned to Russia, the implementation of which is in doubt. However, the events in Ukraine also activated the discussion on holding the compensation system. There is an option to mobilize the compensation money through assets outside the Russian Federation, however, in order for this to happen, it is necessary to mobilize the will on the international forum, which is the responsibility of the state, otherwise nothing will happen.”

Davit also explains that, based on the Russian law, the scope of cooperation with state agencies is narrowed, and not only – “the ability of organizations to operate is called into question, because the law aims to reduce their activity, which will make it impossible to operate in the future. Those who took part in the adoption of the law did not assess the risks that undermining the activities of organizations could bring in the international legal arena. Legal culture is established by our organization, and if we can no longer work freely, the repressions will continue, we will no longer be able to present such strategically important cases, as a result, the whole stream of injustices will remain unnoticed.”

The European Court of Human Rights began considering individual complaints in February 2022 and addressed Russia with questions regarding the submitted complaints, including the case of 78 victims, whose interests are protected by SAIA.

Cases of Victims of the Gavrilov Night

On June 20, 2019, Deputy of the Russian State Duma, member of the Communist Party – Sergei Gavrilov, who refers to Abkhazia and Ossetia as independent states, arrived in Georgia and led the Orthodox Assembly from the chair of the parliament chairman. This news caused an immediate protest – first we saw the opposition of the opposition female MPs in the legislative building, and then the citizens also came out on the streets of Tbilisi. The assembly failed, and the protest became even more large-scale, and those gathered demanded, among others, the resignation of the chairman of the parliament at that time, Irakli Kobakhidze. The government kept silent on the demands of the participants of the rally, and the confrontation between the citizens and the law enforcement officers started. The authorities violently dispersed the rally. In addition, there was no advance warning about the disbandment of the rally. The dispersal of citizens continued for several hours. As a result: 240 people were taken to the clinic, among them, at least 34 journalists and 80 policemen were injured, and two of the injured lost their eyes. Also, 305 participants of the rally were arrested.

Among the injured journalists was Ana Vakhtangadze, who was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet while she was on duty. According to her, she was among the dozens of people who cooperated with the investigation after the incident, was interrogated, and an examination was conducted, although his and dozens of other people’s cases did not reach the court.

“Then I was still new to journalism, had worked only a few years. As soon as the news of June 20 happened, non-governmental organizations immediately started working to protect our rights and not to be left alone before the state. If I was alone, I might not have been able to do it, I was not financially strong enough to hire a good lawyer, who would first give the case a legal course in Georgia and then try to protect my rights in Strasbourg”, Ana tells us, noting that the state easily makes a decision, financial compensation to issue, however, it refuses to investigate, and this approach leaves the essence of the problem unchanged.

On May 7, 2024, the Strasbourg Court found Georgia guilty and found a violation of the third article of the European Convention (prohibition of torture) on the complaints prepared by SAIA , which combined the cases of 26 people in total, and ordered Georgia to pay damages in favor of the complainants.

In addition, the European Court noted that the investigation did not reach any conclusion, the state neither conducted a systematic analysis of the events, nor properly assessed the issue of the responsibility of the leaders. The court also said that there is no complete official report on the operation to break up the rally, and the obligation to identify the law enforcement officers suspected of violence during the large-scale police operation was not fulfilled.

In the decision of the Strasbourg court, we also read that the state did not conduct an effective investigation, which is why the discussion of violations in relation to other articles named in the complaints can be evaluated after the investigation.

On August 1, SAIA appealed to the European Court on behalf of the applicants and requested that the case be transferred to the Grand Chamber for consideration. The said petition was approved on September 23. According to the position of SAIA, it is possible to establish other violations by the state with the evidence in the cases. This is the first time in the history of Georgia, when the case was transferred to the Grand Chamber for consideration based on the petitioners’ appeal.

We remind you that despite the protests of the population and the calls of the country’s partners, the Georgian Dream adopted the Russian law, which applies to all non-governmental organizations whose services citizens use. In addition, the law also restricts those independent media that are not financed by political money or are not private businesses, because, except for units, all independent media in Georgia operate with the support of donors.

Both non-governmental organizations and the media refused to register as “carriers of the interests of a foreign power” and appealed the law to the Constitutional Court.

It should be noted that according to the Russian law, evasion of registration or failure to submit the financial declaration within the established period results in a fine of 25,000 GEL. The fine does not exempt the organization from the obligation to register as a “carrier of the interests of foreign powers”. Also, appealing this fine does not release them from the obligation to pay. All this means that the listed organizations, with a high probability, will not be able to pay the fine and will be forced to stop their activities, which will affect all citizens. For example, services that are now available for free may no longer be available, nor will they be able to access reliable, verified information in independent media and only have access to the news that the government-controlled media chooses to cover.

Russian law also directly applies to natural persons — although Russian law only provides for the registration of legal entities, a person authorized by the Ministry of Justice, on their own initiative or based on the information provided, can start monitoring, within the framework of which he has the right to request any information from a natural person, including: Provision of special categories of personal data. This type of personal information is, for example, information about personal life. Failure to provide these reports will result in a fine of 5000 GEL for the individual. It is on the basis of this article that the law may affect everyone.