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ETHNIC MINORITIES /
Statement
Strasbourg releases a decision on Temirlan Machalikashili case
The European Court of Human Rights has just published its decision on Temirlan Machalikashvili case.
The Court ruled the violation of Article 2 (the right to life) in its procedural aspect and deemed the investigation as ineffective. The Court upheld almost all of our claims with regard to investigation into the case, including claims about the breach of institutional independence of investigation manifested in the involvement of the State Security service in obtaining curial pieces of evidence (items obtained as a result of search especially, a hand-grenade) at the initial stage of the investigation, delayed questioning of officers participating in the special operation by the Prosecutor’s Office, inadequate inquiry into the location of the cellphone and headphones at the time of the shooting and the presence of blood trace on the aforementioned items, refusal of the authorities to grant access to the Machalikashvili family to classified case materials and a status of the victim. The Court also highlights that due to the failure of the authorities to grant the status of the victim to the Machalikashvili family the latter were deprived of the right to appeal the final decision of the Prosecutor’s Office to close the case.
The Court did not establish the substantive violation of the right to life since, according to the decision, the investigation had been flawed to the effect that it was impossible for the Court to adequately study the body of evidence. Sadly, the Court chose not to assign the burden of proof to the State which resulted in an dissenting opinion written by one of the chamber’s judges.
At the same time, the Court did not discuss claims pertaining to Article 3 (prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment). Nor has the Court reviewed Article 13 (the right to an effective remedy before a national authority) since it believed the matter to have been assessed under Article 2).
The Social Justice Center is working to provide a full assessment of the case in near future.
It is essential that the violation of investigation standards in relation to the right to life established by the Court will serve as the ground for reopening the case and relaunching an investigation at the national level which hopefully will provide legal means to the Machalikashvili family to seek justice.
The claim was prepared and submitted to the European Court of Human Rights by the Social Justice Center and the European Human Rights Advocacy Center on behalf of the Machalikashvili family.
