Today 99 victims of attacks by religious extremists, Orthodox clerics and policemen in the former Soviet republic of Georgia filed a total of 30 cases with the European Court of Human Rights. All 30 cases were combined into one application, which sets out the systematic refusal by the Georgian State to prosecute those responsible for the attacks.
A motion was also filed with the court asking that these 30 cases be joined to 2 cases already filed by Jehovah's Witnesses, thus enabling the European Court to address the violations of the European Convention by Georgian law-enforcement officials. If the motion is granted, the European Court will have jurisdiction over 32 cases filed during the last year involving the "culture of impunity" toward religious intolerance and violence permitted by authorities in Georgia.
One of the 30 cases concerns the violent attack by state officials against a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses held in western Georgian city of Zugdidi on September 8, 2000. In this case, a document approved and signed by high officials of the Ministry of Interior and entitled "Operational Protective Measures to Prevent the Convention of the Religious Movement 'Jehovah'" was filed with the court. This document sets out the plan of action used by the state in mobilizing nearly 100 policemen to shut down this peaceful convention of Jehovah's Witnesses illegally.
In all 30 cases, despite being provided with clear evidence of criminal acts, including eyewitness testimony, photographs and video clips, the prosecutor has refused to initiate even one prosecution. Many "paper investigations" were started, but most of the time investigators refused to give victims copies of decisions in order to prevent them from filing appeals. In one case, there was never any investigation because the chief of police admitted that he had ripped up and destroyed the criminal complaints when he received them. Although several cases included in the application were appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia, it invariably supported the Prosecutor's Office in its refusing to allow any investigations into the attacks.
"We have now filed with the European Court 32 cases for which the victims have no effective domestic remedy," stated Mamuka Chabashvili, one of the attorneys on record in the application. "We have another 500 criminal complaints filed with the Prosecutor's Office. Unless the State commences prosecution of the perpetrators of these criminal acts without regard to religious affiliation, it may become necessary to submit these complaints to the European Court as well."
Contact in Georgia: Telephone: +(995) (32) 76 23 59 Facsimile: +(995) (32) 76 95 98
English speaking: +(995) (99) 55 48 92
Contact in Britain: Paul Gillies, telephone: + (44) (020) 8906 2211
Video footage of mob attacks and photographs of injuries and acts of arson
available to the media upon request
http://www.jw-media.org/