The European Court of Human Rights has declared the case of T. Kh. v. Georgia inadmissible, finding that the State had properly maintained a fair balance in an ongoing legal dispute between two private individuals.

The application concerned a dispute arising from a social media post published in 2016, which itself referred to an alleged incident dating back to 2011.

The Court found the complaint to be manifestly ill-founded and therefore inadmissible.

In its reasoning, the Court emphasized that the case concerned a dispute between private parties which did not warrant the application of criminal law mechanisms. It noted that the national authorities had clearly informed the applicant that the matter should be pursued through civil proceedings; however, the applicant failed to avail himself of this remedy.

The Strasbourg Court further underlined that, notwithstanding the inapplicability of criminal law in the present case, the investigative authorities had acted promptly in 2016, and no procedural deficiencies were identified.

In light of the above, the Court concurred with the position of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, concluding that the application was manifestly ill-founded and inadmissible.