FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 58228/09
Emzar Kopadze
against Georgia
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 10 March 2015 as a Committee composed of:
George Nicolaou, President,
Nona Tsotsoria,
Krzysztof Wojtyczek, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 9 October 2009,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
1. The applicant, Mr Emzar Kopadze born in 1980, is a Georgian national and is currently serving a sentence in prison no. 6 in Rustavi. He was represented before the Court by Mr B. Botchorishvili and Mr I. Khatiashvili, lawyers practising in Tbilisi.
2. The Georgian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr. L. Meskhoradze, of the Ministry of Justice.
3. The case mainly concerned the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment in prison and the lack of adequate investigation thereof.
4. On 8 July 2014 the application was communicated under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention to the Government.
5. By a letter of 4 November 2014 the Government informed the Court that they proposed a friendly settlement with a view of resolving the issues raised in the application. The terms of their proposal read as follows:
“With due regard to the applicant’s claims under the Convention, the Government of Georgia wish to acknowledge a violation of Article 3 of the Convention under its procedural limb. They do so on account of the failure to fulfil their obligation of launching an investigation into the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment.
In order to remedy the above deficiency, the Government, within the scope of the instant proposal, are prepared to:
- Commence an investigation into the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment fact and ensure its compliance with the State’s procedural obligations under Article 3 of the Convention;
- Pay 3,500 (three thousand five hundred) Euros to cover any pecuniary or non‑pecuniary damages and costs and expenses, which will be free of any taxes that may be applicable.
This sum will be converted into the national currency of Georgia at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court to strike the case out of its list of cases. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on it, from expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
The fulfilment of the aforementioned conditions shall constitute a final resolution of the case.”
6. By a letter of 10 December 2014, the applicant informed the Court that he was ready to accept the terms of the Government’s friendly settlement proposal, thus agreeing to drop all his claims against them.
THE LAW
7. The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 2 April 2015.
Fatoş AracıGeorge Nicolaou
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy