Communicated on 3 May 2016
FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 26344/13
Goderdzi ARKANIA
against Georgia
lodged on 15 March 2013
STATEMENT OF FACTS
1. The applicant, Mr Goderdzi Arkania is a Georgian national who was born in 1978. He is represented before the Court by Mr G. Nikolaishvili, a lawyer practicing in Tbilisi.
A. The circumstances of the case
2. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
3. On 21 September 2012, by a decision of the Supreme Court of Georgia, the applicant’s conviction for two offences, including for the failure to report to the police the acts of terrorism perpetrated jointly by his brother and one other person, became final. He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
4. During the trial, the national courts dismissed, without any reasoning, the applicant’s argument that the privilege not to incriminate a close relative excluded his criminal liability for not reporting the crimes committed by his brother.
B. Relevant domestic law
5. The footnote to Article 375 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, as in force at the material time, excluded criminal liability for the failure to report a crime committed by “a close relative”.
COMPLAINT
6. The applicant complains in substance under Article 7 of the Convention that in breach of the privilege not to incriminate a close relative, he was unlawfully convicted of the failure to report to the police the crimes jointly committed by his brother and the latter’s accomplice.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Was the applicant subject to exclusion from criminal liability for the failure to report the crimes jointly committed by his brother and the latter’s accomplice, in view of the footnote to Article 375 of the Criminal Code of Georgia?
2. Did the applicant’s conviction of the failure to report the crimes jointly committed by his brother and the latter’s accomplice violate the applicant’s rights under Article 7 of the Convention?
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