MOSCOW, July 15 (RAPSI) – The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against an applicant who complained over the alleged violation of his rights in Georgia under a law on fighting organized crime, the court said in a press release on Tuesday.

The applicant, Izet Ashlarba, a Georgian born in 1956, was convicted for being a member of a criminal syndicate. His conviction came as part of an investigation into the conduct of a “thief in law” (equivalent to the rank of “Godfather” in the Italian mafia), from whom Ashlarba was discovered to receive regular instructions, the court said.

Ashlarba was found guilty by the Batumi City Court in 2007 on the basis of three episodes, which were confirmed by witnesses and evidence obtained through the tapping of telephone lines. He was sentenced to seven years, while his criminal boss received a 10-year sentence.

The case of Ashlarba v. Georgia was filed in April on the presumption that Georgian legislation violated Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights (no punishment without law).

Ashlarba alleged that the Georgian Criminal Code had not been precise and foreseeable enough for him to understand what kind of conduct could be considered as membership of the criminal underworld, and thus for him to be punishable.

Replying to the court’s questions on this case, Georgian authorities pointed to in-depth studies of organized crime and the influence that criminals have come to exert on the Georgian public at large.

The amendments made to the Georgian Criminal Code in 2005, in particular punishment for being a member of the “thieves’ underworld” and for being a “thief in law,” were introduced as part of a legislative package aiming to fight against the criminal underworld.