Resolution CM/ResDH(2017)287
Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
Two cases against Georgia
(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 21 September 2017 at the 1294th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)
Application No.
Case
Judgment of
Final on
11830/03
GHARIBASHVILI
29/07/2008
29/10/2008
18183/05
KHAINDRAVA AND DZAMASHVILI
08/06/2010
08/09/2010
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”),
Having regard to the final judgments transmitted by the Court to the Committee in these cases and to the procedural violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention established on account of the lack of effective investigations into allegations of breaches of the right to life and ill‑treatment allegedly imputable or linked to the action or negligence of law enforcement officers;
Recalling the respondent State’s obligation, under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention, to abide by all final judgments in cases to which it has been a party and that this obligation entails, over and above the payment of any sums awarded by the Court, the adoption by the authorities of the respondent State, where required:
- of individual measures to put an end to violations established and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and
- of general measures preventing similar violations;
Having invited the government of the respondent State to inform the Committee of the measures taken to comply with the above-mentioned obligation;
Having examined the information provided by the government (see documents DH-DD(2015)625, DH-DD(2016)701, DH-DD(2016)1262, DH-DD(2017)879), indicating, as regards individual measures, that the just satisfaction, where awarded, has been paid; that the new investigations conducted in the cases concerned following the judgments of the European Court were as comprehensive as possible; that they were closed without result, mainly on the grounds that no criminal act could be established and prescription; and that consequently no other individual measure can realistically be taken;
Having noted that a prosecutor’s decision to terminate an investigation is subject to a hierarchical review and that judicial review is also available in cases involving allegations of particularly grave crimes; and that the applicants have not submitted any complaints concerning the outcome of the new investigations either to the domestic authorities or the Committee of Ministers;
Having noted important developments through a series of general measures adopted or envisaged aiming at ensuring the effectiveness of investigations (involvement of the victims in the investigation, new rules for witness interrogation) and the institutional independence of investigating bodies (adoption of an order by the Minister of Justice setting the rules on territorial and material jurisdiction for criminal investigations, reform of the Prosecutor’s Office including draft constitutional amendments foreseeing a reinforcement of its independence from the executive and accountability only to the Parliament); the prevention of excessive use of force by the police in the course of arrest and ill‑treatment in custody; creation of internal monitoring mechanisms in the Ministry of Internal affairs and the Ministry of Corrections; reinforcing the independence of the judicial system (amendments in the law “On Common Courts” foreseeing that all judicial acts, including the resolution part of acts adopted in camera, will be published on the website); and further training and awareness-raising measures;
Underlining that the examination of the outstanding questions regarding individual and general measures in the former Gharibashvili group of cases will be pursued within the framework of the new Tsintsabadze group of cases,
DECLARES that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in the cases of Gharibashvili and Khaindrava and Dzamashvili and
DECIDES to close the examination thereof.
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