On November 28, 2017 the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered a landmark judgment on the case of Ivane Merabishvili v. Georgia.

In its landmark decision the Court found violation of Articles 5.3 and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Specifically, the Grand Chamber reiterated the Section judgment and stated that pre-trial detention of the former Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili's was politically motivated and was misused by the Georgian Government to exert pressure on him.

The case of Merabishvili v. Georgia is only the 7th case in the Court's 60-year history where violation of Article 18 has been found. More importantly, this is the first case ever where violation of Article 18 was established by the Grand Chamber.

Mr. Merabishvili's interests were represented by BGI Legal (Georgia) and European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC, Middlesex University, London).

"The judgment on case of Merabishvili v. Georgia has shaped the precedent in the field of human rights law and represents a pivotal step towards effective protection of legal and political rights of individuals throughout Europe" - Ani Khojelani, Attorney representing the Interests of Ivane Merabishvili before the European Court of Human Rights.

"The judgment is important not only for the Applicant, former Prime Minister of Georgia, but also all individuals in Europe. This landmark and historical judgment will be effective way for the individuals to protect themselves from politically motivated state abuse in the future" - Davit Kakoishvili, Attorney representing the Interests of Ivane Merabishvili before the European Court of Human Rights.

Partner Sandro Bibilashvili has been elected by the Executive Board of ICC Georgia as the Chair of its Commercial Law Commission. ICC Georgia is the Georgian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce.

"This is yet another recognition of BGI as the leader of the Georgian legal market. By spearheading the work of the Commercial Law Commission, we will be in a position to engage directly with senior policy-makers and contribute to the development of a statutory framework in the interest of the business community," says Bibilashvili.

On February 24, 2017 Tamar Morchiladze, an associate at BGI Legal, participated in the 6th Annual Tbilisi Pre-Moot Arbitration Conference. Tamar moderated a debate in British Parliamentary Style, addressing the issue of admissibility of claims in international commercial arbitration.

The conference was organized by Arbitration Initiative Georgia, a non-profit organization established by the alumni of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot and was sponsored by the USAID-Promotion Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG), implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

The Tbilisi Arbitration Conference was followed by the 6th Tbilisi Pre-Moot, which aims to prepare Georgian and foreign teams for international rounds of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held annually in Vienna, Austria. 6th Tbilisi Pre-Moot involved students from German, Dutch, Latvian, Turkish and Georgian Universities.

Notably, Tamar is a coach of the Free University of Tbilisi team, which was acclaimed as the winning team of the 6th Tbilisi Pre-Moot.

The event was attended by students, young practitioners and experts in international commercial law and arbitration, representatives of academia, as well as Government officials and civil society representatives.

We are happy to announce that our colleague, Otar Kakhidze has been elected as a member of the Parliament of Georgia, where he will continue serving the country in a leadership position. We wish Otar every success in his new endeavors.

We are also happy to announce that David Kakoishvili has taken over the criminal law desk within the firm.