Criminal conviction of former chairman of Georgia's aviation agency was not based on sufficient reasons, - the judgment of the ECtHR reads.
The case concerned the pre-trial detention of the former chairperson of the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA) of Georgia and his criminal conviction of abuse of power.
Tchankotadze was the chairperson of the Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia (CAA) between March 2002 and March 2004, when he resigned. In March 2004 criminal proceedings were brought against him on charges of repeated abuse of power. In particular, he was accused of having entered into civil contracts in his capacity as chairperson of the CAA with three civil aviation companies, which undertook to pay the CAA on a monthly basis a "fee for services rendered in relation to the regulation of activities", and of having issued an order, in November 2003, which had allowed the CAA to charge several companies the same fee. According to the investigator, MrTchankotadze had in this way circumvented the legal effects of a judgment of the Constitutional Court of 10 January 2003 which had declared unconstitutional the obligation on airline companies to pay an "annual regulation fee for transport activities" to the CAA.
Mr Tchankotadze was arrested on 16 March 2004 and a district court ordered his detention pending investigation and trial for three months. His appeal against the detention order was dismissed. In June 2004 his detention was extended until 16 September 2004. Mr Tchankotadze remained in detention after that date, and in February 2005 he complained that he had ben unlawfully detained since September 2004. Without replying to his complaint, the competent court decided, on 16 March 2005, to uphold the measure, in particular on the basis of the "nature of the charges".
The Chamber judgment in the case of Tchankotadze v. Georgia the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial).
The Court held that Georgia was to pay Tchankotadze EUR 20,000 in respect of nonpecuniary damage and EUR 15,000 in respect of costs and expenses.
