Georgia holds rally of gratitude to ECtHR

On September 23, in Tbilisi, the oppositional party of the former Georgia's Ambassador to the United Nations Irakli Alasaniya "Our Georgia – Free Democrats" held an action of gratitude to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for the decision on the case of Sandro Girgvliani. The participants of the rally called on the Council of Europe (CoE) to force the Georgian government to fulfil the decision.

Sandro Girgvliani was killed on January 27, 2005, in the Okrokan Forest, where he was tortured. The Strasbourg Court (that is, the ECtHR) has obliged the government of Georgia to pay out 50,000 euros to Sandro's family.

According to Mr Alasaniya, this decision of the ECtHR is a verdict to Saakashvili's regime and a confirmation of the fact that the Georgia's MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs), Prosecutor's Office, the Court and the President had agreed not to allow justice in this case, the "News-Georgia" reports.

"We want to express our confidence in the CoE and hope that together with this body and through its help we'll achieve justice in Girgvliani's case. It shall be brought to the end," the "Georgia-Online" quotes Irakli Alasaniya as saying.

The Georgian opposition and country's well-known human rights and public organizations have repeatedly emphasized the poor efficiency of the investigation into Girgvliani's murder and asserted that inspectors had deliberately concealed possible links between the murder case and high-ranking officers of the local MIA.