The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Russia violated the right to life and the prohibition of torture in connection with eight Georgian prisoners of war in 2008, including Georgia’s national hero Giorgi Antsukhelidze, ordering Moscow to pay compensation to victims’ families and surviving servicemen.
The judgment, delivered on June 23 in the joined cases of Malachini and Others v. Russia and Chikviladze and Antsukhelidze v. Russia, found violations of both the substantive and procedural aspects of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Article 2 concerned the deaths in custody of three Georgian servicemen – Ushangi Sopromadze, Kakhaber Khubuluri, and Giorgi Antsukhelidze – while Article 3 concerned the torture of those three prisoners as well as five other Georgian servicemen: Davit Machini, Zaza Kavtiashvili, Imedi Kutashvili, Malkhaz Meladze, and Kakhaber Zirakashvili.
The cases were brought by the families of three killed prisoners of wars (POWs) and five servicemen who survived detention but were tortured. The applicants were represented by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Stichting Justice Initiative. The Georgian Government participated as a third-party intervener. The applications were lodged in 2009 and 2010, and the judgment came nearly 18 years after the events it concerns.
“It is a historic and emotional day,” Tamar Oniani, chair of GYLA, said following the ruling, writing in a social media post, “This is the first time since the 2021 judgment in the interstate case (Georgia v. Russia II) that the Court, in individual cases, examined the issue of the Russian Federation’s jurisdiction in relation to prisoners of war, and did not automatically decline to assess the conduct of hostilities.”
Russia has for years failed to comply with judgements of the European Court of Human Rights.
Accounts of Death, Torture
Ushangi Sopromadze, a junior sergeant with the 1st Gori tank brigade, was executed in captivity on August 10, 2008, after captors identified him as a tank crew member. His body was returned to Georgia in November 2008 and identified through DNA analysis the following month.
Kakhaber Khubuluri, a corporal with the 42nd Battalion of the 4th Vaziani Infantry Brigade, was executed on August 11, 2008, after being singled out by his captors because of his Ossetian ancestry. According to witness testimony cited by the Court, he was accused of being a “traitor” and taken away before being killed. His remains were returned to the Georgian authorities in November 2008 and identified through DNA analysis in December 2008.
Giorgi Antsukhelidze, an assistant gunner in the 41st Battalion of the 4th Infantry Brigade, went missing during fighting in Tskhinvali on August 9, 2008. Video footage that later emerged showed him in captivity being brutally beaten and humiliated by men in military uniforms. His body was among several unidentified remains returned to the Georgian authorities in November 2008 and was identified through DNA analysis the following month. Antsukhelidze was posthumously awarded the title of National Hero of Georgia.
Five other Georgian servicemen, Davit Malachini, Zaza Kavtiashvili, Imeda Kutashvili, Malkhaz Meladze, and Kakhaber Zirakashvili, were held in captivity between August 8 and 19, 2008. The Court found that they were “interrogated, beaten, had their skin and fingers burnt, and were made to walk on the Georgian flag.”
Russia’s Accountability
The ECtHR cited evidence of Russian military and state involvement at multiple stages of the prisoners’ detention. On August 8, three Russian servicemen wearing helmets entered the building where the POWs were first held. On August 10, both Ossetian and Russian servicemen entered the room and inspected the prisoners’ hands, apparently to identify tank gunners or artillerists, before Sopromadze was singled out and killed. Russian federal forces were also present in the gymnasium of School No. 6 in Tskhinvali, where the prisoners were subsequently held, the ruling said.
One prisoner, Zaza Kavtiashvili, was transferred to a city hospital in Tskhinvali, where different Russian authorities interrogated him. He was asked, “while being threatened with death,” to confirm the presence of civilian bodies in the streets, testimony the Court found was extracted under duress. At the Tskhinvali police station, Imeda Kutashvili was interrogated by Russian servicemen, while the remaining prisoners were questioned by South Ossetian forces.
The Court found that the prisoners were “interrogated, beaten, had their skin and fingers burnt, and were made to walk on the Georgian flag.” In one documented instance, a Russian serviceman threatened to shoot Kutashvili at gunpoint before another Russian soldier physically intervened to prevent the killing.
Malachini, Zirakishvili, and Kutashvili, together with 10 others, were transferred to Georgian custody on August 19 in exchange for Russian prisoners.
The Court held that while battlefield military operations during the active phase of hostilities generally fell outside Russia’s jurisdiction under Article 1 of the Convention, the detention and treatment of prisoners constituted a distinct category of acts over which jurisdiction applied even while fighting was ongoing.
The Court found Russia exercised “effective control” over South Ossetia through the systematic granting of Russian citizenship to its residents, the staffing of South Ossetian security forces and ministries by Russian officials, and sustained financial and military support. Drawing on the EU Fact-Finding Mission’s report, the Court noted that Russia’s “influence was systematic, and exercised on a permanent basis,” and that the South Ossetian de facto government was not “effective on its own.”
On responsibility, the Court said Russia’s liability did not require proof that its personnel directly ordered or had committed each individual act of abuse. Because the POWs fell within Russian jurisdiction, Russia bore responsibility for the conduct of South Ossetian forces “without it being necessary to provide proof of ‘detailed control’ of each of those actions.”
On torture, the Court found that the ill-treatment inflicted on all eight servicemen, the three killed and five survivors, caused “severe” pain and suffering and “must be regarded as acts of torture within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention.” It noted the particular gravity of violations “perpetrated against prisoners of war, who have a special protected status under international humanitarian law.”
On investigation, the Court found that Russia had “failed to carry out an effective investigation” into either the killings or the torture. Russian authorities had referred complaints to a military crimes investigation unit in the North Caucasus military district, but “produced no evidence or arguments capable of rebutting” the applicants’ account of events.
Compensation
The Court ordered Russia to pay the following non-pecuniary damages within three months of the judgment becoming final:
- €65,000 jointly to the wife and children of Ushangi Sopromadze
- €65,000 to the mother of Kakhaber Khubuluri
- €65,000 jointly to the wife and children of Giorgi Antsukhelidze
- €40,000 each to the remaining applicants
It remains unclear whether the awards will be enforced, as following its expulsion from the Council of Europe in 2022, Russia adopted legislation refusing to execute ECtHR judgments.
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