European Court launches procedures for June 2019 events in Tbilisi

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has launched procedures for the lawsuit submitted by the Georgian Young Lawyers’s Association (GYLA) and EHRAC on June 2019 protests in Tbilisi, GYLA says. 

June protests in Tbilisi back in 2019 were sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament and taking a seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker by Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov. 

Russia currently occupies 20 percent of the Georgian territory. 

Dozens of citizens were injured during the rally dispersal on June 19-20, several individuals even lost eyesight. 

Current head of the For Georgia opposition party Giorgi Gakharia served as the country’s interior minister that time. 

GYLA says that the lawsuit was filed on behalf of 22 individuals in April 2021, while ECHR notified the Georgian government on the issue in June 2021. 

The NGO says that the government must respond to ECHR’s questions on the issue by December 9, 2021 and also present the investigation documents on the rally dispersal case by the country’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office. 

The Georgian NGOs and the opposition say that the government used ‘excessive force’ during the rally dispersal in June 2019.