A/HRC/39/44 the trial of Mr. Mamaladze such as lack of equality of arms, limitation of the right to a public trial, violations of the principle of presumption of innocence and absence of a reasoned judgment.5 16. Another high-profile case was the disappearance of Afgan Mukhtarli, an Azerbaijani journalist, from central Tbilisi on 29 May 2017. On 15 June 2017, the European Parliament strongly condemned the abduction of Mr. Mukhtarli and urged the Georgian authorities “to ensure a prompt, thorough, transparent and effective investigation into Afgan Mukhtarli’s forced disappearance in Georgia and illegal transfer to Azerbaijan and to bring the perpetrators to justice”. 6 According to various sources, including the submission from Human Rights Watch, the investigation opened into this case reportedly remained inconclusive one year after the incident. 17. In November 2017, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights adopted a decision in the case Merabishvili v. Georgia, involving the detention of former Prime Minister of Georgia Ivane Merabishvili. The Court concluded that, while the detention of Mr. Merabishvili had initially been in conformity with article 5 (1) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the right to liberty and security of person) and related to the investigation of offences based on a reasonable suspicion, the predominant purpose of detention later changed. According to the Court, the reason for the changed purpose of detention was to obtain information about former high-level political leaders, and “was thus chiefly meant for an ulterior purpose not prescribed by the Convention”. The Court therefore established a violation of article 18 (limitation on use of restriction on rights) in conjunction with article 5 (1) of the Convention.7 2. Combating torture and ill-treatment 18. Georgia has achieved significant progress in combating torture and other types of illtreatment in the penitentiary system, which has been acknowledged by various national and international mechanisms.8 19. However, as pointed out by various international and national actors, including in the submissions of the Public Defender and Human Rights Watch to OHCHR, lack of accountability for those who commit acts of torture or degrading treatment remains a serious problem.9 According to Human Rights Watch, at the time of its submission in May 2018, the Prosecutor’s Office had launched investigations into 63 allegations of torture and ill-treatment since 2014 at the request of the Ombudsperson, but none had led to a criminal prosecution. 20. On several occasions, international mechanisms recommended to the Government of Georgia that it create an independent body to investigate alleged violations by law enforcement agents. OHCHR has been advocating for the creation of such a mechanism for years. In February 2018, the Government endorsed a bill on the State inspector and submitted it to parliament. If the bill is adopted, the office of the inspector will absorb the current functions of the Personal Data Protection Inspector and will have the competence to investigate ⸻ but not to prosecute ⸻ allegations of serious human rights violations by law 5 6 7 8 9 See “Public Defender’s monitoring findings in the so-called cyanide case”, 15 November 2017, available at http://ombudsman.ge/uploads/other/4/4916.pdf. See www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-20170267+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN. See https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press#{“itemid”:[“003-5927865-7571644”]}. See, for example, the report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on his mission to Georgia (A/HRC/31/57/Add.3). See, for example, the report of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, document CPT/Inf (2015) 42; National Human Rights Action Plan for 2016−2017 of Georgia; and Report of the Public Defender of Georgia on the Situation of Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Georgia 2017, p. 65, available at www.ombudsman.ge/uploads/other/5/5301.pdf. 5