Kezerashvili v Georgia

Background

David Kezerashvili was a senior minister in the Georgian Government and was a founding member of the United National Movement (“UNM”), which governed the country from 2003 to October 2012. He served as Minister of Defence from 2006 to 2008.

Following a change in Government in Georgia, Mr Kezerashvili was charged with a string of offences, including relevantly aggravated embezzlement. A request for his extradition was denied by France, and later the UK, on the ground that the charges amounted to political persecution.

Domestic Proceedings

The criminal proceedings against Mr Kezerashvili were prosecuted in absentia. He was acquitted of the charges at first instance by the Tbilisi City Court on 30 August 2017 and again on appeal by the Tbilisi Court of Appeal on 23 May 2018. The prosecution filed a further cassation appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia on 22 June 2018.

On 30 August 2021, the Supreme Court informed Mr Kezerashvili’s counsel that the appeal would be considered by the Court in chambers without a hearing. He was then informed that the case would be considered by a bench including Judge Sh. T., who had previously been the Prosecutor General of Georgia. An application for the recusal of Judge Sh. T. was made but dismissed by the Court.

On 7 September 2021, the Supreme Court gave judgment reversing the decisions below and finding Mr Kezerashvili guilty of aggravated embezzlement.

The ECtHR proceedings

Mr Kezerashvili commenced proceedings before the ECtHR, alleging a violation of Article 6(1) on the grounds that, inter alia, the presence of Sh. T. on the Supreme Court gave rise to apparent bias.

The ECtHR allowed the application, finding a violation of Article 6. It reasoned that since Judge Sh. T. had served as the Prosecutor General of Georgia during the period when the case remained pending before the Supreme Court, this may have created the impression that Sh.T. continued to support the appeal on points of law in the applicant’s high-profile case during his tenure as Prosecutor General, while having access to internal information about the prosecution service’s strategy in handling the criminal proceedings against the applicant, given his prominence and the political sensitivity of the criminal proceedings against him. This cast doubt on the objective impartiality of the Supreme Court ruling.

Sir Jeffrey Jowell KC and Tim Parker acted for Mr Kezerashvili, instructed by Georgian lawyers and Michael Drury of BCL Solicitors LLP.

The full judgment is available here.