On 5 July, 18 months after the investigation into Temirlan Machalikashvili’s case had been dropped, Prosecutor General and the State Security Service returned the items seized on the day of the special operation to the Machalikashvili family. Tbilisi’s Prosecutor’s Office made a decision to terminate the investigation into the death of Temirlan Machalikashvili in January 2020. At that time the State Security Service also dropped an investigation into Machalikashvili’s alleged support to terrorism. However, even though there was no active investigation into the aforementioned cases, the State Security Service and Prosecutor’s Office had repeatedly refused to return items seized from the Machalikashvili residence on 26 December 2017 as the law enforcement searched the premises.

It should be noted that we were not able to have a through look into Temirlan Machalikashvili’s mobile phone after it had been returned to the family, since Facebook and WhatsApp applications cannot be accessed. However, we scrutinized other data stored on the mobile device, including photos, but found no data or information which would corroborate narratives promoted by officials.

Over the course of the years the SSS and the Prosecutor’s Office refused to return items and money to the Machalikashvili family to ostensibly establish the money trail and ascertain whether it was linked to Chataev grouping. Even though a body of evidence had been submitted to the State Security Service confirming that the money belonged to the Machalikashvili family, they nevertheless had tried to link the origin of the money to Chataev and his grouping. However, objective, and factual circumstances point out that there had been no connection between Machalikashvili and Chataev. Nor did the former benefited from the latter’s financial resources. This is corroborated by the decision made by the SSS and the Prosecutor’s Office on 5 July to return items and money to the Machalikashvili family.

Yet another new development in the Machalikashvili case concerns a decision of the Court of Appeals with regard to an appeal of the Machalikashvili family to challenge the violation of the presumption of innocence perpetrated by the State Security Service against Temirlan Machalikashvili and demand a compensation for moral damage. In 2022 the court of the second instance, upheld the decision made by a city court and turned down a plea of the Machalikashvili family ignoring all apparent signs of the violation of presumption of innocence. If national courts fail to restore justice on the Machalikashvili case, the Social Justice Center is determined to apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

As a reminder, an application concerning the deprivation of life and apparently ineffective investigation into the death of Temirlan Machalikashvili was lodged in June 2019. The European Court launched a fast-track hearing and by the end 2020 had completed its communication with the Georgian authorities. In addition, they have also solicited our opinions with regard to issues pertaining to just satisfaction. The Court has not yet made a decision on the case.

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