On 14 June 2016, the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case "Merabishvili v Georgia" that the repeated extension of Merabishvili's pre-trial detention "lacked reasonableness" and was exploited "as an additional opportunity to obtain leverage over the unrelated investigation" into the death of the former Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and financial activities of former President Mikheil Saakashvili. The Fourth Section of ECHR unanimously found violations of Articles 5§3 and 18 of the European Convention of Human Rights in the case of former Prime-Minister.