EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACCEPTS ADMISSION OF GUILT FROM GEORGIA
Official Site of Jehovah's Witnesses, jw.org, 24 October 2017
On 12 October 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a decision in which it accepted from the republic of Georgia an admission of guilt for violation of the rights of ten Jehovah's Witnesses. The government of this country agreed to award each victim in the case "Gabuniia and others against Georgia" 800 euros as compensation for violation of their rights to freedom of religious confession and freedom from discrimination guaranteed by articles 9 and 14 of the Convention on Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
In September 2005, ten Witnesses filed a declaration in the ECHR regarding four incidents of attacks on them by a mob instigated by Orthodox extremists. These four incidents were a part of a government-organized campaign of religious persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Georgia, which lasted from October 1999 to November 2003. Personnel of law enforcement agencies also bear responsibility for these attacks, because either they participated in them themselves or they did not do anything to protect the Witnesses.
Before considering the case of "Gabuniia and others against Georgia," the ECHR had already issued three incriminating decisions against this country. In those decisions, the ECHR condemned the government of Georgia because at that time it did not protect the rights of Witnesses and did not shield them from violence. The ECHR came to the conclusion that inaction on the part of law enforcement agencies could engender in civil society a reasonable suspicion that "the criminals were connected with representatives of the government." Further the court concluded that "the government of Georgia created an atmosphere of lawlessness, which in its turn encouraged other attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country." The ECHR also determined that there occurred "connivance on the part of judges in harsh actions against the plaintiffs" and that Georgian courts treated the complaints of the victims "prejudicially and superficially."
Georgia composed a unilateral declaration "admitting with regret" that it had violated the victims' rights that are enshrined in the European Convention. Thereby Georgia avoided a fourth condemnation of its decision, which certainly would have echoed the previous three. Nowadays, Jehovah's Witnesses in Georgia are not any longer subjected to attacks by a mob and to religious persecution on the part of the authorities. They enjoy freedom of religious confession. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 November 2017)
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