RAMISHVILI v. GEORGIA - 48099/08 (Judgment : Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 - Right to free elections-{general} : Fifth Section Committee)

Yonko Grozev, President, Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, Lado Chanturia, judges, and Milan Blaško, Deputy Section Registrar,

. On 31 March 2008 the Constitutional Court declared the application inadmissible in view of an identical restriction contained in the Constitution. It noted the following:

"It would be absolutely futile for the Constitutional Court to abolish the impugned provision [Article 5 § 2 of the Electoral Code] as this will not relieve the complainant of the restriction placed upon him by Article 28 § 2 of the Constitution. To achieve [this latter result] it would be necessary to introduce amendments with respect to the relevant provision of the Constitution, which is beyond the Constitutional Court's competence. ...

... the Parliament of Georgia has directly copied the prohibition contained in Article 28 § 2 of the Constitution into Article 5 § 2 of the Electoral Code. The impugned provision is [thus] analogous to the rule contained in Article 28 § 2 of the Constitution and its constitutionality -� which implies the assessment of a constitutional norm's constitutionality -� is not within the Constitutional Court's jurisdiction."

. Article 28 § 2 of the Constitution (1995), as it stood at the material time, provided that "citizens ...who are convicted by a court and detained in a penal institution shall have no right to participate in elections and referenda."