Coalition for Change outlines international legal steps for holding Ivanishvili accountable for ‘systemic torture’, party leader

The Coalition for Change is working on nearly a dozen international legal avenues aimed at holding Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, accountable under international law for what it describes as systemic torture committed both in 2023-24 and in previous years, coalition leader Giga Lemonjava said during a briefing on Thursday.

Lemonjava said the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights had confirmed that on 20 June 2019 “Ivanishvili’s Russian-style regime tortured people and failed to investigate any of the torture cases.”

“The Grand Chamber confirmed that on 20 June 2019, Ivanishvili’s Russian regime tortured people and did not investigate a single incident. The Court also established a violation of the right to a fair trial, meaning the judicial system failed to ensure effective justice regarding torture,” Lemonjava said.

He also stressed that the failure to investigate torture was not the result of a single institution but a coordinated effort across the entire state apparatus.

“Both the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Special Investigative Service, and the court system were involved. This demonstrates a coordinated attempt by the entire state machinery to conceal the torture cases,” he said.

Lemonjava added that the alleged torture continued after 20 June 2019 and escalated significantly.

“As you know, hundreds of people were tortured in Georgia in 2023-24.”

He said the coalition was developing multiple international strategies to ensure accountability for what it considered systemic torture over the years.

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) on Thursday said it had won the 20 June case before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.

The case concerns the dispersal of demonstrators in Tbilisi sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the state legislature amid the occupation of 20 percent of the country’s territories  by Russia.