European Court fines Georgia for non-professional judges

On October 27, the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg ruled to fine Georgia by 6000 euros for the 2001 trial of three participants of the plot against President by non-professional judicial assessors.

In May 1999 the Security Service of Georgia reported that it had opened a plot against the then President of the country Eduard Shevardnadze and arrested 12 person, including General Gudzhar Kurashvili, former commander of land forces of Georgia, Archil Pandzhikidze and Kakhaber Kantariya, former fighters of the "Alpha" special-purpose subdivision.

According to the investigation, their aim was physical liquidation of the President, head of the parliament and ministers of state security, defence and internal affairs. In November 2001, the panel for criminal cases of the Supreme Court, consisting of a judge and two non-professional assessors (msadzhuli) found the conspirators guilty of high treason and sentenced them to three years of imprisonment each.

The "Kommersant-Online" writes that in 2002 the claimants lodged a complaint to the Strasbourg Court, asserting that the verdict had been passed by the court established not under the law, as the two assessors were incompetent to act in the capacity of judges.

The "Infox.ru" Agency explains that the institution of non-professional judges in Georgia was abolished in 2005; and the claimants' application ran that the panel of the Supreme Court was not "the court established by the law" and could not guarantee fair trial.

Now Georgia is obliged to pay 2000 euros to each of the victims as compensation of moral harm.