TIBILOVA AND OTHERS v. GEORGIA

Published on 26 February 2024

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 7685/12
Venera TIBILOVA and Others
against Georgia
lodged on 9 January 2012
communicated on 6 February 2024

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the arrest by the Georgian armed forces and subsequent disappearance of three men – A. Khachirov, A. Khugayev and S. Pliyev – who were Russian nationals of Ossetian origin and residents of South Ossetia (a region of Georgia which is currently outside the de facto control of the Georgian Government). Applicants 1-4 (see the appendix) are the parents of the three above-mentioned men, who brought, on 9 January 2012, the application both in their own name and on behalf of their missing sons. Applicant no. 5 is a daughter of applicants nos. 1 and 2, who informed the Court, in September 2015, of her wish to maintain the application in the stead of her parents who had died in 2014, two years after the introduction of the present case.

On 13 October 2008 A. Khachirov, A. Khugayev and S. Pliyev, who apparently were members of the South-Ossetian militia that had participated on the side of the Russian military forces in the armed conflict against Georgia which had taken place between 8 and 12 August 2008 (compare Georgia v. Russia (II) [GC], no. 38263/08, § 182, 21 January 2021), were arrested by a Georgian military patrol near the South Ossetian administrative border line. As was subsequently reported by international observers from the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCR), who were stationed in the conflict zone at the material time, the three detainees were initially brought to a police station situated in the village of Mereti and then transferred to Gori, a town situated near the administrative border with South Ossetia. What happened next to those men remains a subject of various unconfirmed reports, with the only fact being that the applicants have never heard from their next-of-kin again.

Starting from 28 October 2008 and onwards, applicants nos. 1-4, represented by a group of Georgian lawyers, addressed various domestic authorities, requesting assistance in identifying the whereabouts of their missing sons. As of 21 April 2009, the lawyers, having regard to the fact that their previous requests had been left unanswered, started insisting that the Georgian law-enforcement authorities should launch a criminal investigation into the unacknowledged detention and disappearance of the three men. In reply, on 20 June 2009 the Ministry of the Interior of Georgia opened a criminal case into the purportedly unlawful detention and disappearance of the above-mentioned men and assigned it to the Gori district police unit for further investigation. Subsequently, a series of requests aimed at involving the applicants into the investigation followed from the lawyers, but the police would either leave those requests unanswered or dismiss them for being premature.

According to the latest factual update from the applicants, dated 27 October 2015, the criminal investigation into the disappearance of their relatives was still ongoing at that time.

The applicants complained under Articles 2, 3, 5 and 13 of the Convention, both in their own name and on behalf of their missing relatives, about the circumstances surrounding the arrest and subsequent disappearance of A. Khachirov, A. Khugayev and S. Pliyev and the absence of an effective investigation into the matter.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1.  Having regard to the circumstances surrounding the arrest of A. Khachirov, A. Khugayev and S. Pliyev on 13 October 2008 by the Georgian authorities and their subsequent disappearance, has there been a violation of Articles 2, 3 and 5 of the Convention, these complaints being lodged by the applicants in their own name as well as on behalf of their missing relatives (compare, amongst others, Alpatu Israilova v. Russia, no. 15438/05, §§ 46-76, 14 March 2013)?

2.  Having regard to the procedural obligations under Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention, as well as to the requirements under Article 13 in relation to the applicants’ complaints about the unacknowledged detention and disappearance of their relatives, have the competent domestic authorities conducted an effective criminal investigation into the matter (compare, amongst many others, Meryem Çelik and Others v. Turkey, no. 3598/03, §§ 70-78, 16 April 2013)?

APPENDIX

List of applicants: