European Court verdict: Georgia must pay €80,800 for murder of prisoners under UNM gov’t

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Georgia must pay 80,000 euros to the families of two inmates who were killed during a riot in Georgian prisons back in 2006, under the United National Movement government.

The court said that the right to life was violated in both cases and the incident was not investigated properly.

The applicants were Sofio Kukhalashvili, Marina Gordadze and Rusudan Chitashvili. 

The first and second applicants are the sister and mother of Z.K. while the third applicant is the mother of A.B. 

Both men were prisoners in Tbilisi Prison no. 5 who died during a police anti-riot operation at the prison in March 2006. They were aged 23 and 29 respectively,’ the court said. 

The court says that the anti-riot operation took place after disturbances when the authorities removed six alleged high-profile criminal bosses and their close associates from a prison hospital. 

The authorities’ aim was to reduce the criminal bosses’ alleged influence in the prison system but as they were removed by force disturbances broke out in two nearby prisons, Prison no. 1 and no. 5. The authorities subsequently used an anti-riot squad to bring the disturbances in Prison no. 5, where the rioting was particularly bad, under control. The incident led to the death of seven inmates and the injury of 22 inmates and two prison officers,” says the court. 

The court held that Georgia must  pay 40,000 euros jointly to the first and second applicants and EUR 32,000 to the third applicant in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

 It also  held that Georgia must  pay EUR 5,400 to the first and second applicants jointly and EUR 3,400 to the third applicant in respect of costs and expenses.