Council of Europe discusses execution of European Court verdict of Georgia vs Russia case

The Council of Europe (CoE) has called on Russia to submit documentation of how the country would prevent violations like the 2006 mass deportation of Georgians, in the future.

The Georgian side welcomed the decision of the CoE and said this decision was a result of hard work by Georgian missions who served abroad. 

The Committee of Ministers' Deputies of the CoE convened its 1250th human rights meeting earlier this week. One of the issues on the meeting’s agenda was execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the case of Georgia vs Russia. 

In 2014 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a verdict in favour of Georgia regarding an inter-state complaint lodged by Georgia against Russia in connection to the detention and deportation of hundreds of Georgian nationals from late September 2006 to early 2007.

The decision adopted by the Committee of Ministers' Deputies called on Russia to submit further information on implementation of the country’s Action Plan, and to supplement the documentation with an analysis of how the measures outlined in the Action Plan will prevent similar atrocities from happening in the future. 

Furthermore, the decision invited Russia to provide information on the measures in place to ensure the country complied, now and in the future, with its obligation under Article 38 of the European Convention on Human Rights to furnish all necessary facilities to the European Court.

"This is a very good result that we received thanks to joint efforts by the Foreign and Justice Ministries of Georgia and also our missions’ active work,” Georgia’s Deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said.

"Our missions abroad gained the support of the majority of the European Council’s delegation members.” 

In July 2014 the Strasbourg-based ECHR delivered its long-awaited verdict stating Russia’s 2006 policy of arresting, detaining and expelling large numbers of Georgian nationals from Russia was unlawful and violated the European Convention. 

A Grand Chamber of 17 judges from the ECHR reached a majority verdict that ruled Russia had made numerous violations in the European Convention against Georgia. 

When speaking about the verdict, the Court concluded that from October 2006, a "coordinated policy of arresting, detaining and expelling Georgian nationals, amounting to an administrative practice, had been implemented in Russia”.

"No effective and accessible remedies had been available to the Georgian nationals against their arrest,” the ECHR said at the time.