ECHR rules Georgia must pay €3,000 to a man, imprisoned for alleged drug possession in 2007

Having examined the case the ECHR found that ‘the manner in which the key evidence against the applicant had been obtained cast doubt on its reliability and accuracy’. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Agenda.ge, 07 May 2020 - 22:59, Tbilisi,Georgia

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Georgia must pay €3,000 to man imprisoned for drug possession.

The case concerns ‘the alleged unfairness of the criminal proceedings’ conducted against the applicant in 2007 ‘on account of the manner in which the principal evidence was obtained and used against him’.

Denying the charges, the applicant -  Merab Megrelishvili - complained that the drugs had been ‘planted’ by the officers of the Special Operations Department (SOD) of the Interior Ministry, which has been later abolished. 

He also claimed that the searches had been ‘unlawful’ as he and his family members had been ‘arbitrarily refused the right to invite attesting witnesses’. 

Stating that the domestic courts had ‘failed to give due consideration to the defence’s argument challenging the reliability and use of the evidence in question’, Megrelishvili said this has ‘rendered his trial unfair’. 

Photo: ECHR

The ECHR has found that ‘the manner in which the key evidence against the applicant had been obtained cast doubt on its reliability and accuracy’.

In view of the importance of that evidence, the Court considers that, cumulatively, the procedural irregularities during the searches, the inadequate judicial scrutiny both before and during the trial, including the failure of the domestic courts to sufficiently examine the applicant’s allegations that the drugs did not belong to him, and the weakness of the corroborating evidence, rendered the applicant’s trial as a whole unfair”, the ECHR said.

It therefore concluded that the Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which says that 'everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by [a] ... tribunal …’ has been violated.

Assessments in Georgia

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), which protected the interests of Megrelishvili at the ECHR said after the court ruling today that his case points at ‘structural and systemic problems’ in Georgia. 

Meanwhile, the Georgian Justice Ministry stated that with its ruling the Strasbourg-based court has ‘reaffirmed’ that the ‘practice of planting drugs’ by law enforcement agencies indeed existed during the previous Georgian government in 2004-2008.