Georgia drafts lawsuit against Russia for Tatunashvili’s case in European Court
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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.”
The body of the 35-year-old Georgian soldier, Archil Tatunashvili, who died in unclear circumstances in the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region on February 23, has been handed over to representatives of the government of Georgia several minutes ago, 26 days after his death.
The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation has responded to Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s recent appeal to act jointly to resolve the complicated situation concerning Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili’s death in occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).
The two Georgian citizens detained in Georgia’s Russian occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), Levan Kutashvili and Ioseb Pavliashvili, have left Akhalgori, a territory currently controlled by Russia.Kutashvili and Pavliashvili were illegally detained on February 22 together with Archil Tatunashvili, who died in unclear circumstances on February 23.
"I urge the leadership of the Russian Federation to take joint steps and resolve this complicated situation”, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has said. This August marks the 10th anniversary since the war of 2008, which according to PM Kvirikashvili "has left a tremendous mark on the Georgian people’s minds and Georgia-Russia relations”.
Striking the town of Gori’s center by the Iskander – a mobile short-range ballistic missile system produced and deployed by the Russian Federation – is one of the central episodes that will be discussed by the court which will start its deliberations after the hearing in private.
The final hearing in the case of Georgia v. Russia has come to the end at the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. Georgia’s British lawyer Ben Emerson, a representative of Russian Justice Ministry and the lawyer of the state of Russia, addressed a panel of 17 judges.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has decided to add the charge of torture to the investigation of Archil Tatunashvili murder case after the results of an autopsy have revealed new evidence.
Georgia expects the European Parliament to once again condemn Russian aggression in a resolution following discussions on the results of Russian occupation of Georgian territories planned for today, according to the website of the European Parliament.
Beginning from August 1st, the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court of Georgia can request the European Court to give advisory opinions on questions of principle relating to the interpretation or application of the rights and freedoms defined in the European Convention of Human Rights.
Representatives of de-facto South Ossetia abruptly ended today’s Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting in Ergneti village, near the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent has visited the villages along the occupation line of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and met with the representatives of the EU Monitoring Mission today.