European Court of Human Rights

SECOND SECTION

FINAL DECISION

Application no. 29869/07
by Shota CHAKVETADZE
against Georgia

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 21 October 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Françoise Tulkens, President,
Ireneu Cabral Barreto,
Vladimiro Zagrebelsky,
Danutė Jočienė,
Dragoljub Popović,
András Sajó,
Nona Tsotsoria, judges
and Sally Dollé, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 25 April 2007,

Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Shota Chakvetadze, is a Georgian national who was born in 1966. He was represented before the Court by Mr Tengiz Aslanikashvili, a lawyer practising in Kutaisi. The Georgian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr David Tomadze of the Ministry of Justice.

The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.

On 12 October 2006 the applicant was arrested for pick-pocketing 3.50 Georgian laris (EUR 1.46¹).

On 14 October 2006 the Kutaisi City Court ordered that, in a measure of pre-trial restraint, bail be set at GEL 15,000 (EUR 6,315) and the applicant be remanded until its payment.

On 25 October 2006 the Kutaisi Regional Court upheld the order of 14 October 2006.

On 2 November 2006 the applicant's advocate requested the Kutaisi City Court to review the order of 14 October 2006 due to newly discovered circumstances and reduce the amount of bail to GEL 2,000 (EUR 971).

In an order of 3 November 2006, the Kutaisi City Court, without holding an oral hearing, partly granted the request of 2 November 2006. It accepted the indigence of the applicant's family as a newly discovered circumstance and reduced the bail to GEL 13,000 (EUR 5,472). The court noted that an appeal lay against the order within forty-eight hours of its issuance (Article 243 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). Copies of the order were to be communicated to both the applicant and his advocate.

On 14 November 2006 the applicant was served with the order of 3 November 2006 in prison, this fact being acknowledged by the prison administration. On the following day his advocate lodged an appeal against it.

On 28 November 2006 the Kutaisi Appellate Court dismissed the appeal of 15 November 2006 as time barred. The court reproached the applicant's advocate for not having justified the belated appeal nor requested the restoration of the forty-eight hour time-limit.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant complained under Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention that the amount of bail had not been reasonable in his case and that the Kutaisi Appellate Court had arbitrarily refused to hear his appeal of 15 November 2006.

THE LAW

The Court received the following declaration from the Government:

“I, David Tomadze, Government Agent, declare that the Government of Georgia offer to pay ex gratia 2,500 (two thousand five hundred) euros to Mr Shota Chakvetadze with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above mentioned case pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

This sum, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be converted into the national currency at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable to the applicant. It will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on it, from expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points. The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.”

The Court received the following declaration signed by the applicant's representative, Mr Tengiz Aslanikashvili:

“I, Tengiz Aslanikashvili, the applicant's representative before the Court, note that the Government of Georgia are prepared to pay ex gratia the sum of 2,500 (two thousand five hundred) euros to Mr Shota Chakvetadze with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above-mentioned case pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

This sum, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be converted into the national currency at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable to the applicant. It will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. From the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amount at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

I accept the proposal and waive any further claims against Georgia in respect of the facts giving rise to this application. I declare that this constitutes a final resolution of the case.”

The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no public policy reasons to justify a continued examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

Sally Dollé Françoise Tulkens
Registrar President