The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered the Georgian state to pay to Shalva Ramishvili and Davit Kokhreidze, co-founders of 202 TV, EUR 6,000 each for non-pecuniary damage and EUR 14,694, jointly for costs and expenses.

Ramishvili and Kokhreidze were arrested in August, 2005 and charged with extortion of USD 100,000 from Koba Bekauri, then a lawmaker from the ruling party. Both Ramishvili and Kokhreidze pled not guilty. In March, 2006 Ramishvili was sentenced to 4 years and Kokhreidze to 3 years of imprisonment. Kokhreidze was pardoned and released from prison in 2007, while Ramishvili serves his prison term.

The Strasbourg-based ECHR said in its judgment on January 27, that there had been violation of Ramishvili’s rights on account of “the inhuman and degrading conditions” in which he was detained in the punishment cell at Tbilisi No. 5 Prison in January, 2006 and Kokhreidze’s rights on the account of detention in an overcrowded cell in the same prison. The prison no. 5 has been closed down by the authorities in May.

“The Court noted that Mr. Ramishvili had been obliged to share a 120 cm bed with a stranger and could not even relieve himself in the so-called toilet without being observed by the latter,” ECHR said. “The conditions of his detention in the punishment cell had therefore obviously not allowed for even the most basic privacy. The Court also found that the sanitary conditions had been unacceptable and concluded that the applicant was held in inhuman and degrading conditions.”
 
The Court also ruled positively on the applicants’ complaint about their placement in a metal cage during court hearings in Tbilisi. “The Court noted that, despite the applicants’ status as public figures, without prior conviction, and the fact that they had behaved in an orderly manner during the criminal proceedings, the Government had failed to provide any justification for their having been placed in a caged dock,” ECHR said.

ECHR said in its judgment that the applicants’ rights were also violated on account of the absence of a valid court order authorizing their pre-trial detention beyond initial three months.