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Committee of Ministers Secrétariat Du Comité Des Ministres SECRETARIAT / SECRÉTARIAT SECRETARIAT OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS SECRÉTARIAT DU COMITÉ DES MINISTRES Contact: John Darcy Tel: 03 88 41 31 56 Date: 03/06/2019 DH-DD(2019)633 Document distributed under the sole responsibility of its author, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. Meeting: 1348th meeting (June 2019) (DH) Communication from the applicant (29/05/2019) in the case of Merabishvili v. Georgia (Application No. 72508/13) Information made available under Rule 9.1 of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers for the supervision of the execution of judgments and of the terms of friendly settlements. * * * * * * * * * * * Document distribué sous la seule responsabilité de son auteur, sans préjuger de la position juridique ou politique du Comité des Ministres. Réunion : 1348e réunion (juin 2019) (DH) Communication du requérant (29/05/2019) relative à l'affaire Merabishvili c. Géorgie (requête n° 72508/13) (anglais uniquement). Informations mises à disposition en vertu de la Règle 9.1 des Règles du Comité des Ministres pour la surveillance de l’exécution des arrêts et des termes des règlements amiables. DH-DD(2019)633: Rule 9.1 communication from the applicant in Merabishvili v. Georgia. Document distributed under the sole responsibility of itsDGI author, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. 29 MAI 2019 SERVICE DE L’EXECUTION DES ARRETS DE LA CEDH Middlesex EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY CENTRE University London European Human Rights Advocacy Centre Sc hool of Law Midd lesex University Th e Burroughs London NW4 48T United Kingdom Em ail: eh ra c@ mdx.ac.uk Phon e: +44 208 4 11 2826 Fa x: +44 (0)203 004 1767 DGI - Directorate General of Hu man Rights and Rule of Law Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex FRANCE E-mail: dgl execution just [email protected] [email protected] Sent by post and email 29 May 2019 Dear Sir/Madam, Re: lvane Merabishvili v. Georqia, App. No. 72508/13 {leading case, enhanced procedure) - submissions pursuant to Rule 9(1) of the Committee of Ministers' Ru les for the Supervision of the Execution of Judgments Further to our letter of 3 May 2019, we are writing to provide an additional update on domestic developments in Mr Merabishvili's case . As noted in our letter of 3 May, on 19 April 2019, Mr Merabishvili was informed that his application for early conditional release was aga in rejected by the Parole Board (decision dated 11 April - see annex 1: decision in Georgian, and annex 2: English translation). On 8 May 2019, the Tbilisi City Court aga in rejected Mr Merabishvili's application forvictim status in respect of criminal case No . 074210616801- apparently on the basis that the withdrawal of Mr Merabishvili from prison No. 9 on 13-14 December 2013 has not been confirmed (annexes 3 & 4- original decision, with English translation). We reiterate that, to date, Mr Merabishvili has accordingly had no access to the criminal investigation case files, and has been unable to exercise his rights as victim or seek to challenge the decisions made in the investigation. He notes that the Committee of Ministers expressly required him to have access to the information uncovered by the reopened investigation (CM/Notes/1331/H46-10, p. 4). On 23 May 2019, Mr Lasha Tsatsua, from the Prosecutor's Office, wrote to Mr Merabishvili's lawyer, Giorgi Chiviashvili, to inform him that in spite of the fact that he did not have victim status, he would be granted access to the casefile (annexes 5 & 6) . On 28 May 2019, Mr Chiviashvili replied to Mr Tsatsua in order to request access for Mr Merabishvili himself to the file - a reply to that letter is now awaited. lt is understood that this offer from the Prosecutor's Office is a matter of 'goodwill', which could be revoked at any time. DH-DD(2019)633: Rule 9.1 communication from the applicant in Merabishvili v. Georgia. Document distributed under the sole responsibility of its author, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. On 14 May 2019, Mr Merabishvili was questioned by prosecutors at prison No . 9, in the presence of his lawyer, Giorgi Chiviashvili. We attacha statement from Mr Chiviashvili dated 24 May 2019 (annex 7) which summarises the nature of the questioning. Mr Chiviashvili states that Mr Merabishvili confirmed that he cou Id identify the people involved in his removal (and indeed he described them in detail), but notes that he was not asked to identify t hem using either photographs or video. Mr Merabishvili was also asked if he could provide any information about G.G . and I.M . who had been referred to in Mr Chiviashvili's letter to the Prosecutor's Office of 21 March 2019. G.G. and I.M. are special forces officers who were extensively referred to in the judgment of the European Cou rt in Mr Merabishvili's case as having been named by certain witnesses as having been involved in Mr Merabishvili's removal (see, e.g., paras. 93,110,337,340 of the Court judgment). lndeed, the Court was expressly critical of the authorities that 'no attempt was made to check whether the applicant could recognise Mr G.G. or Mr I.M .. .. ' and ' ... no attempt appears to have been made to check Mr G.G.'s and Mr I.M.'s mobile telephone records and cell tower data for the early hours of 14 December 2013 ... ' (para . 340) . lt therefore does not appear that the prosecutor had made any prior attempt (by investigating the case papers, or reading the European Court judgment) to ascertain the identify of G.G . and I.M ., or their potential relevance to the investigation, but simply sought to rely on questioning Mr Merabishvili. ln our submission, this provides further evidence of the very limited nature and narrow scope of the investigation and indeed its ineffectiveness. We will continue to provide the Committee with further updates in the domestic proceedings in this case . Yours faithfully, pp-~ Philip Leach Joanne Sawyer Legal Representatives of the applicant Enes. 2 DH-DD(2019)633: Rule 9.1 communication from the applicant in Merabishvili v. Georgia. DocumentDGI distributed under the sole responsibility of its author, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. 29 MAI 2019 SERVICE DE L’EXECUTION DES ARRETS DE LA CEDH (state emblem) State Subordinate Institution within the Ministry of Justice of Georgia - First Local Council of Special Penitentiary Service of Eastern Georgia Decision №01/19/-0389 (Without oral hearing) April 11, 2019 Tbilisi, Gldani 7th m/district, 2nd quarter On April 11, 2019 the First Local Council of Special Penitentiary Service of Eastern Georgia was convened with the following membership: 1. Tengiz Shakarashvili – Chairman of the Council; 2. Davit Nozadze – member of the Council; 3. Nana Maisuradze – member of the Council. Council reviewed the petition received by the First Local Council of Special Penitentiary Service of Eastern Georgia as well as the relevant materials related to the early conditional release of Ivane Merabishvili, the convict. As a result, following was established: 1. First name, last name, patronymic: Ivane Merabishvili f/n Sergo 2. Date of birth: April 15, 1968 3. Place of birth: Adigeni 4. Citizenship: Georgia 5. Is convicted/accused of: 1. Under the judgement of February 17, 2014 of Kutaisi City Court Mr. Ivane Merabishvili was recognized to be guilty under the subparagraph “b” of the 3rd part of the article 160 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, the subparagraph “d” of the 2nd part and the subparagraph “b” of the 3rd part of the article 182 of the same Code (first episode),the subparagraphs “a” and “d” of the 2nd part and the subparagraph “b” of the 3rd part of the article 182 of the same Code (second episode), the article 164' and consequently was sentenced to the term of imprisonment for 10 years. Based on the Law of Georgia on Amnesty” of December 28, 2012 the sentence above was halved and the sentence was consequently determined to be the term of imprisonment for 5 years in the penitentiary facility. Judgement of February 17, 2014 of Kutaisi City Court was remained unchanged by the decision of October 21, 2014 of Kutaisi Court of Appeal. DH-DD(2019)633: Rule 9.1 communication from the applicant in Merabishvili v. Georgia. Document distributed under the sole responsibility of its author, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. Cassation was not admitted for the trial under the decision of June 18, 2015 of the Supreme Court of Georgia. 2. Under the judgement of February 27, 2014 of Tbilisi City Court Mr. Ivane Merabishvili was recognized to be guilty under the subparagraph “b” of the 3rd part of the article 333 of the Criminal Code of Georgia and consequently was sentenced to the term of imprisonment for 6 years. Based on the Law of Georgia on “Amnesty” of December 28, 2012 the sentence above was reduced by ¼ the sentence was consequently determined to be the term of imprisonment for 4 years and 6 months in the penitentiary facility. Judgement of February 27, 2014 of Tbilisi City Court was remained unchanged by the decision of October August 11, 2014 of Tbilisi Court of Appeal. Cassation was not admitted for the trial under the decision of February 27, 2015 of the Supreme Court of Georgia. 3. Under the judgement of October 20, 2014 of Tbilisi City Court Mr.
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