The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rejected as inadmissible the lawsuit of the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili against Ukraine, in which he demanded to recognize the violation of his rights due to the deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship and deportation.
The press service of the court informed about the decision on Thursday.
"In its decision in the case "Saakashvili v. Ukraine" (application No. 8113/18), the European Court of Human Rights unanimously declared the application inadmissible. The decision is final," the message reads.
The case concerned the statement of Saakashvili, who was naturalized in Ukraine in 2015 and took an active part in Ukrainian politics.
Saakashvili claimed various violations of his rights in 2017, when he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, and in 2018, when a criminal case was opened against him, he was arrested and deported from Ukraine.
Saakashvili referred to articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), 5§1 (right to liberty and personal integrity), 6§2 (presumption of innocence), 8 (right to respect for private life and home), 11 (freedom of assembly , 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 18 (restrictions on the use of limitations of rights) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
On all but one of the claims, the court found that Saakashvili had not exhausted all the legal remedies available to him at the national level, and the rest of the complaints - under Article 13 - were clearly unfounded.
The court noted that after May 2019, when Saakashvili's Ukrainian citizenship was renewed and he resumed his political activities, nothing prevented him from filing his complaints in Ukraine.
After his return, investigative bodies released some preliminary findings regarding alleged violations of his rights in 2017-18. However, Saakashvili has not provided the ECtHR with any updated information on his situation since March 2018.
"In the absence of any explanation from his side, the Court decided that he (Saakashvili. - Ed.) did not comply with the obligations stipulated by the European Convention to first use all legal remedies at the national level before turning to the Court.
Thus, all but one of his complaints were rejected due to the "non-exhaustion of national remedies", the ECtHR explained.
The court did not specify which of Saakashvili's claims it considers justified.
As you know, Saakashvili has been in custody since his secret return to Georgia on the eve of local elections in 2021, and recently his health condition has significantly deteriorated.
At the end of February, the EU lodged a formal protest with the Georgian authorities regarding Saakashvili after the decision was unblocked by Hungary. It called for Saakashvili to be released from prison for treatment in Poland.
