The ECHR has imposed the State of Georgia to pay 50,000 euros regarding the Vazagashvili case.

On May 2, 2006, Zurab Vazagashvili and Aleksandre Khubulov died in a special operation in Tbilisi. At that time, the investigation concluded that “members of gangster group” were killed during the special operation. At a time, this statement caused protests within the Georgian society. Several protest rallies were demanding the re-investigation of the case.

The police operation involved at least 50 officers, including senior officials from the criminal police unit of the Ministry of the Interior and masked officers of a riot police unit. The police initially stated that Z.V. and his friends had been intercepted on their way to carry out a robbery, but an investigation into excessive use of force was opened three days after the incident.

The applicants regularly complained to the Tbilisi city prosecutor that the investigation was not being conducted thoroughly and impartially. In April 2007 the prosecution authority discontinued the investigation for want of a criminal offence, basing the decision mainly on statements by officers who had taken part in the operation and on ballistics tests. Vazagashvili’s family applied to the European Court of Human Rights. Strasbourg made a suit at the end of 2007.

In early 2015, Zurab Vazagashvili’s father Yuri Vazagashvili was blown up at the grave of his son. Police officer Gia Sosanashvili was detained on charges of intentional murder in aggravating circumstances.

The ECHR has issued a press release regarding the Court’s final decision. The press release states that the Court found in particular that a first investigation into the killing had been flawed, as it had been carried out by the police officers involved in the shooting. The second investigation, which led to convictions, had only taken place several years after the crime and had been based to some extent on investigative work carried out by the first applicant himself. The Court particularly noted that the first applicant’s efforts to disclose police crime and corruption ultimately led to him being murdered by a police officer, highlighting the consequence of the authorities’ lack of diligence in pursuing the perpetrators of the original murder.

The Tbilisi city prosecutor’s office had failed to give the applicants victim status, a lack of procedural standing that had prevented them from being able to appeal to a court against the prosecution decision to terminate the investigation.

According to the ECHR, the Tbilisi city prosecutor’s office had manifested a lack of the requisite thoroughness, objectivity, and integrity, as shown by the reopened investigation.

The ECHR press release aosp states that the father of Zurab Vazagashvili had borne the burden of the investigation, interviewing witnesses and collecting other evidence. Despite the existence of substantial evidence implicating the police officers in the unlawful use of lethal force, it had still taken the domestic authorities almost three years to terminate the investigation and transfer the case for trial.

The Court also noted that it was because of the first applicant’s activities in the case that he had been murdered. Indeed, by taking over an investigative role which was usually the responsibility of the authorities, he put himself at almost certain risk of retaliation.

The second investigation had also been tainted by the fact that the second applicant had not been granted victim status.

The Court expressed regret that the legislature had apparently not given due consideration to the need to punish serious police misconduct with unbending stringency and reiterated that when an agent of the State, in particular, a law-enforcement officer, was convicted of a crime that violated Article 2 of the Convention, the granting of an amnesty or pardon should not be permitted.

Also, the two police officers found guilty of aggravated murder had not been banned from public service by the domestic courts, meaning they could potentially re-join the law-enforcement system after they had served their 12-year prison sentences.

The Court concluded that the sentences given to the two police officers who had murdered the applicants’ son and his friend, with malice aforethought, employing the law-enforcement machinery for that purpose, had not constituted fully adequate punishment for the crime committed. The Court held that Georgia was to pay the second applicant 50,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non pecuniary damage.

The local authorities have responded to the Court’s decision, with the Minister of Justice, Tea Tsulukiani calling the decision a complete failure of the State.

Members of the opposition have also commented on the case. Member of the United Nations Movement, Salome Samandashvili stated that this decision should be an important message for everyone, including the current government.