Lasha Chanturidze, a Kaluga resident who did not have Russian citizenship and was extradited to Georgia in 2012, won a case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on illegal detention in a special detention center.
The Chanturidze case was conducted by the lawyer Illarion Vasiliev. A stateless person was entitled to compensation of 15 thousand euros. Human rights activists are looking for an opportunity to contact him. In Russia, he has a mother. Lawyer Vasiliev told a 7x7 correspondent that his client had come to Russia with a three-year-old child in 1996. He did not manage to process Russian citizenship for himself — he was denied due to his outstanding conviction, although by that time he had spent most of his life in Russia.
Kaluga human rights activist Lyubov Moseeva-Elie told our correspondent that in 2011 Lasha Chanturidze, according to him, refused to cooperate with the FSB.
"Lasha grew up as an ordinary child, engaged in wrestling; the only thing that was unusual – his Georgian father lost touch with his family," Moseeva said. "At the age of about 16, Lasha decided to find his father's family in Georgia, it was a time of conflict between our two countries [in August 2008, Russian troops conducted an operation in South Ossetia "by forcing Georgia to peace"]. His mother took him to Georgia as a minor, and he returned back a year later with big problems: the legislation changed, the visa regime came into effect. The Federal Migration Service (FMS) considered the date of returning to Russia the date of his official entry, "cutting off" a gigantic piece of Lasha’s life that he spent in Russia. Lasha did not get Georgian citizenship, he returned to Russia and became an illegal immigrant. He was not allowed to go back to the legal field, and he got into a bad story – he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. After his release, he was received an offer from the FSB, since he was connected with the Georgian community of "Iberoni". FSB asked to tell them what is happening in this diaspora. Lasha refused. Since he had a conflict with the special services, we could not do anything at the national level – formally Lasha had no registration, but, in my opinion, the maximum that he was threatened with was a fine."
The judge admitted that Chanturidze was a stateless person, and he was sentenced to deportation. In the Russian courts, the lawyers of the young man did not achieve anything. Lasha Chanturidze was kept in a special detention center for administrative detainees – at that time there were no special centers for foreigners in Kaluga, his lawyer decided that this was a violation of the law. According to Moseeva-Elie, the Chanturidze case helped human rights activists to achieve the creation of such a center for foreigners.
The expulsion of a stateless person to Georgia destroyed a young family – Chanturidze's fiancee was pregnant. Before the extradition, the Georgian escaped from the special detention center, he was caught by the Kaluga OMON. Moseeva-Elie believes that, from a legal point of view, this was not a criminal offense, but "the illegal abandonment of forced detention". When the young man was arrested, beaten and sent to the airport, his fiancee had a miscarriage.
"His mother writhed in hysterics, screamed that Lasha had no one in Georgia, it was unclear how he woud live there. We decided to file a complaint to the ECHR," added the human rights activist.
The European Court considered the case for six years and found that Chanturidze was on the verge of torture and found gaps in Russian legislation.
Daniil Kuznetsov, «7x7»
