Georgia drafts lawsuit against Russia for Tatunashvili’s case in European Court

The Georgian  Justice Ministry is drafting a lawsuit for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Russia over the high-profile Archil Tatunashvili’s case. 

35-year-old Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili died in Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region on February 23 and was returned to his family for burial only about a month later. 

We started working on the lawsuit shortly after the death of Tatunashvili, when the Georgian government was doing its utmost to return the body to Tbilisi-administered territory. We will complete drafting the lawsuit soon and it will be in full line with all mandatory procedures, which will increase our chances to win the case. Of course, Russia will be the respondent,” Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani said.

The Georgian Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili stated that Tatunashvili’s case once against revealed  that people in and near the occupied territories have to live under daily threats from Russia.

Tsikhelashvili reiterated that Russia is responsible for all the illegalities in the occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions.

A member of the United National Movement opposition Salome Samadashvili believes that filing a lawsuit against Russia for Tatunashvili’s case in the ECHR is important. However, she says it is more important how the Georgian government will manage to defend state interests during the trials.

Tskhinvali returned Tatunashvili’s body on March 20.

However, an autopsy in Tbilisi revealed that the body was returned without several internal organs, which makes it difficult to clarify the exact reason of death.

The Georgian Minister of Refugees Sozar Subari, who saw the body, said that Tatunashvili was "severely tortured.”