The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled against Georgia in a case submitted to the court by 13 Russian and Georgian citizens of Chechen origin who were detained by the Georgian border guards in August 2002 near the Russian border, the ECHR press release reads.
According to the ECHR ruling Georgia has to pay the 13 applicants for non-pecuniary damage amounting to 80,500 euros (EUR), in awards ranging from EUR 2,500 to EUR 11,000, and were given an additional EUR 4,000 to cover costs and expenses.
Five out of the thirteen Chechens were extradited to Russia in October, 2002. The applicants complained about their extradition to Russia, where capital punishment had not been abolished and claimed that this exposed them to the real threat of death or torture. They further complained of the treatment they recieved while detained in a Georgian detention center.
This is the second case wherein the ECHR has ruled against Georgia. The government had to pay EUR 150,000 to Tengiz Asanidze last April after ECHR ruled in favor of his release him from the Adjarian Security Ministry?s jail, after twelve-years of imprisonment.
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