Georgian Democracy Initiative: ECHR may give precedential significance to July 5 Violence Case

On July 5, 2021, the Human Rights Court of Strasbourg accepted Tbilisi Pride’s lawsuit on violence. 

According to the statement of the Democratic Initiative of Georgia, the ECHR noted that the case might be given precedential importance (The Court considers that these applications may become an impact case).

The case concerns homophobic violence, attacks and threats against the LGBTQ + community and activists on July 5, 2021. The applicants are the organization Tbilisi Pride and its leaders, who were harassed throughout the day with homophobic and hateful motives. 

The plaintiffs claim that due to the government’s inaction and ineffective response, the rights guaranteed by the Convention, namely Article 3 (prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment), Article 11 (freedom of assembly), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) and Article 14 ( Prohibition of discrimination) to determine the violation of articles.

“It should be noted that the court connected the case with respect to all articles, which means that the government of Georgia is obliged to answer the questions raised by the court regarding all issues raised in the complaint by October 13, 2022. Among them, the court is interested in whether the statements of the government members encouraged that violence, which erupted on July 5, 2021, and to what extent the state fulfilled its obligations of prevention and effective investigation.

In addition, the court granted GDI’s petition and ordered the government to present the July 5 security plan and internal materials related to the planning of security measures implemented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs before the disputed events (July 1 and 5, 2021). 

The organization also emphasizes that today, one year later, the consideration of the cases related to July 5 in the Tbilisi City Court has been completed; however, none of the organizers of the violence has answered, and those who were charged received minimal sanctions.

GDI protects the rights of “Tbilisi Pride” and LGBTQ + activists before the European Court.