SURMANIDZE AND ARTMELADZE v. GEORGIA

THIRD SECTIONApplication no. 11323/08Otar SURMANIDZE and others against Georgialodged on 21 February 2008STATEMENT OF FACTS 1.  The applicants are Georgian nationals (see the annex). The facts of their cases, as submitted by them, may be summarised as follows.2.  On 12 January 2006 Mr Roman Surmanidze, the son of the first and second applicants, Mr Marad Artmeladze, the son of the third and fourth applicants, and another young man were shot dead in a street, near metro station Samgori in Tbilisi by agents of the Department of Constitutional Security of the Ministry of the Interior. The shooting occurred in the context of a police operation aimed at apprehending the group of the three young men who had been suspected of conspiracy to assist a prison escape. According to an official version of the events, which is disputed by the applicants, the police opened fire against the group of the …