Georgia Presses Charges
// Tbilisi Sues Russia for Mass Deportations of Georgians
Georgia filed a suit yesterday with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) alleging that Russia's deportation of Georgian citizens in 2006 was illegal. Tbilisi is accusing the Russian authorities of discrimination against thousands of Georgians and massive human rights violations and is seeking moral and material compensation from Moscow. The Georgian authorities have set a precedent by complaining to the ECHR: this will be the first time that Russia will have to answer to charges brought by another country's government. This could scupper hopes for a thaw in tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi, meaning that last year's crisis in the relations between Russia and Georgia may soon enter its second round.
200 Pages of Accusations
Georgian Ambassador to the Council of Europe Zurab Chiaberashvili personally brought the 200 pages of accusations against Russia to the ECHR yesterday. Today the Russian side is due to receive official notification that the suit has been registered with the court. The document presents evidence that the mass deportations of Georgian citizens from Russia last year were accompanied by violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. In order to add weight to Tbilisi's written complaint, video recordings have been included as well. The accumulated evidence represents six months of work by a special commission created by the Georgian parliament to investigate the deportations. According to information obtained by Kommersant, the suit focuses on the deaths of seven Georgian citizens in Russia during the process of deportation. The list of victims of the "anti-Georgian campaign" includes not only those who died in official custody while being deported but also those whom the Georgian government alleges were killed in Moscow and other Russian cities as a result of the ethnic hatred inflamed by the confrontation between Russia and Georgia. According to Nika Gvaramia, the chairman of the special commission, "such a death toll among people of a single nationality while being deported is unprecedented in Europe, at least in the 60 years since the defeat of fascism."
Tbilisi is demanding compensation from Moscow on the basis of the material gathered by the commission. Zurab Chiaberashvili refused to discuss Georgia's claims against Russia in detail, referring Kommersant's correspondent instead to the Georgian Ministry of Justice, which aided the commission in compiling the suit and even solicited the assistance of the country's foremost lawyers and experts in international law. When approached, however, Justice Ministry officials refused to comment, citing the rules at the Strasbourg Court that forbid plaintiffs from publicly discussing cases before verdicts are pronounced. "Emphasis will be placed on moral compensation, i.e., apologies, and on concrete material compensation for damages suffered by people who lost everything during this process, and compensation for the families of the deceased," a Justice Ministry official told Kommersant on the condition of anonymity.
The most unguarded commentary on the filing of the suit came yesterday from Nika Gvaramia, who expressed his conviction that Russia violated numerous international agreements when it deported Georgians last year. "We need to prove that what is at issue is the violation of international laws concerning deportation and that the majority of those who were deported had a legal right to be on Russian territory," said Mr. Gvaramia. "Our goal is to prove that the rights of citizens of Georgia were purposefully violated – in other words, that a policy of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and nationality was pursued, which falls under several fundamental conventions that apply across the world and in Europe in conjunction with agreements through the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Council of Europe," he concluded.
First Summons Before the Court
The complaint lodged with the ECHR by the Georgian side yesterday is presented as a suit brought against Russia by Georgia. According to Anatoly Kovler, a Russian judge on the European Court, this is the first time Russia has been named as the defendant in a suit brought by the government of another country: previously Russia has only appeared before the court in response to charges brought by individuals or organizations.
There have been at least two other incidents at the Strasbourg Court in which one government has sued another. In 1977, in response to a suit brought by Ireland against Great Britain, the court found Britain guilty of inhumane treatment of the residents of the city of Ulster. According to the terms of an out-of-court settlement, London paid 302,000 pounds to 473 victims and their families, and the ECHR awarded compensation ranging from 200 to 25,000 pounds to an additional 228 individuals.
In 2001, Cyprus sued Turkey at the ECHR, alleging human rights violations perpetrated by Turkey against Greek Cypriots. A final decision regarding compensation has not yet been reached in the case. Cyprus is demanding that 200,000 refugees who fled the north side of the island when Turkey invaded each receive $4,000 for every year of the 33-year Turkish occupation. In addition, the Cypriots are demanding compensation for lost property, including property seized from the Cypriot Orthodox Church. In total, Cyprus is seeking $360 billion from Turkey.
Suits brought by one government against another at the ECHR are extremely rare and, not surprisingly, are indicative of a deep freeze in relations between the countries in question (for example, Turkey and Cyprus do not enjoy diplomatic relations). "This is a very rare occurrence. If one government complains against another at the European Court, that means that other means of resolving the issue have been exhausted," said Aslan Abashidze, a specialist in international law and the head of the Center for Legal Research at the Russian International Friendship University. "This is an extreme measure. In one sense it is the culmination of the deterioration of relations between two countries," he said. Mr. Abashidze believes that Georgia has been hasty in bringing the suit against Russia, since Russian-Georgian relations have begun to thaw: Russian Ambassador Vyacheslav Kovalenko has returned to Tbilisi, and the two sides have exchanged promises that they will try to resolve their disputes. Now all of that is likely to be forgotten.
In addition, in the opinion of Mr. Abashidze, the suit brought by Georgia could put the ECHR in an extremely difficult position. "If the court agrees to review the matter, Russia would be able to bring identical charges against European countries where the rights of Russian speakers are being violated – the Baltic States, for example. This could lead to the court being transformed from a legal entity into a political mechanism," he said.
It is of course too early to predict the outcome of events, particularly since the case has not yet been accepted for review. At the first stage, the court will examine the issue and open talks with Russia. "At an initial stage, the sides could agree on some kind of compromise," said Mr. Abashidze.
The Confrontation Spirals Downward
Up until the very last step, there was fierce debate in the Georgian leadership over whether to initiate proceedings against Russia in Strasbourg. The radical position on the issue was occupied by Speaker of Parliament Nino Burdzhanadze, who was resolutely in favor of filing a suit against Russia. For his part, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili tried not to advertise his position on the issue. His only public statement on the topic has been a sharp comment about the impermissibility of transporting people from Russia to Georgia in cargo planes, which Mr. Saakashvili dubbed "cattle transports." But the opposition insisted on bringing the suit: one of the leaders of the Republican Party, David Berdzenishvili, accused the president of "for some reason preferring to keep silent about this tragedy," and Georgy Tsagareishvili, the leader of the party "Industry Will Save Georgia," exclaimed, "the position of the Georgian authorities speaks to their indifference to the fate of their compatriots and to their defeatist attitude." The authorities initially ignored the calls of the opposition to press forward with a suit but capitulated when the anticipated revival of relations between Tbilisi and Moscow after the Russian ambassador returned to the Georgian capital never materialized. Deportations of Georgian citizens from Russia continued, and transportation links remain severed.
Tbilisi's move has provoked disapproval from the Russian authorities, although Moscow prefers to maintain that the case of "Georgia versus Russia" is unlikely to cause lasting political damage to Russia. "There will be no political consequences for us. This is simply yet another attempt by a small country to attract Europe's attention," asserted Leonid Slutsky, the deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the State Duma, who called Georgia's behavior in relation to Russia "incorrect." "Of course, it is their right to bring a case or not – Georgia is part of the Council of Europe. But in my opinion, clarifying the relationship in Strasbourg is not right. We have always demonstrated goodwill in dialog with Georgia, and we even returned the ambassador," Mr. Slutsky said, adding that he believes that Moscow could answer Georgia's suit with one of its own against Tbilisi, since the conflict last year began with the unwarranted arrest of Russian officers by the Georgian authorities, who released the Russians only after the OSCE intervened. "We have serious counterarguments. Clearly, they are pining for tense relations," he concluded.
The Russian Foreign Ministry considers Tbilisi's move hostile. "Georgia just needs a scandal," said Anderi Krivtsov, the deputy head of the Foreign Ministry's Press and Information Department. "There are clearly factions in Tbilisi that do not want relations to improve," he added. Mr. Krivtsov had difficulty predicting what Moscow's reaction will be: "We'll have to follow how events unfold. If politics prevails, then the consequences could be unpredictable."
Vladimir Solovyov, Nargiz Asadova, and Vladimir Novikov (Tbilisi)
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 27, 2007
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