Georgian Parliament Vice Speaker accuses Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association of concealing partial defeat in ECHR over 2024 elections

Thea Tsulukiani, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Friday said that the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) was concealing the fact that it had already been partially defeated in its case at the European Court of Human Rights regarding the 2024 parliamentary elections.

In her remarks, Tsulukiani explained that the European Court of Human Rights questioned whether the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, as a non-governmental organisation, had the right to lodge a complaint about parliamentary elections on behalf of others.

“It is correct that the ECHR has only begun reviewing part of the complaint submitted by Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and others. It is false to claim that they achieved any victory, and it is also false to claim that the substantive review of the remaining parts has started. For us, as a state, the important aspect is the part of the questions that the European Court of Human Rights is specifically raising to GYLA. The Court asks GYLA whether, as a non-governmental organisation, it is entitled to lodge a complaint before it regarding parliamentary elections”, she said.

The Vice Speaker further noted that the European Court of Human Rights ruled that such complaints were inadmissible under the European Convention, which prohibited claims where the rights of another party, rather than the complainant’s own rights, were being challenged.

“The complaint in this part is inadmissible because it concerns a situation in which an organisation or individual complains not about their own rights being violated, but about someone else’s rights - a situation prohibited by the European Convention, which underpins the European Court of Human Rights”, Tsulukiani concluded.

The European Court of Human Rights did not grant the applicants’ request, which sought to suspend the results of the 2024 parliamentary elections at the end of 2024.

The substantive review of the case will begin in the standard form, without acceleration. One of the applicants in the ECHR is the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association.