Execution of ECHR judgments in 2016: key findings on Georgia

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has published its annual report for 2016 on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today.

In accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights, the Committee of Ministers is responsible for supervising the execution of the court’s judgments by the states concerned.

Today’s annual report is an in-depth look at the current state of the execution process, providing statistics and examples for 2016 as well as longer-term trends.

Below is some of the key findings of the report about Georgia.

Among the examples of achievements the report listed:

• Abolition of the rule that no specific detention orders are required once the investigating authorities have sent the case files to trial
• Introduction of improvement of possibility to obtain compensation for illegal detention and/or abolition of the obligation to prove one’s innocence in order to receive compensation for detention on remand if acquitted
• Improvement of health care for prisoners, including special problems such as HIV or mental health problems
• Access to court through reforms of court fees and rules on legal representation and abolition of requirements of regular residence in the country to obtain legal aid
• Due enforcement of domestic judicial decisions, in particular against the State or State owned companies (including the setting up of a central state fund to honor such judgments)
• Adoption of a precise legal framework for peaceful assemblies
• Submission of property and income declaration no longer a prerequisite for registration for parliamentary elections

In 2016 Georgia had seven new cases registered at the ECHR. This number was a two-fold decrease as compared with 2015 when this number was 15. Meanwhile the countries with the highest number of new cases registered in 2016 were Russia (283), Romania (151), Greece (121), Turkey (114) and Ukraine (99).

Six cases related to Georgia were closed in 2016 – the same as in 2015. The countries that closed the highest number of cases during 2016 were Turkey (274), Slovenia (265), Russia (261), Romania (214) and Poland (170).

Georgia has 39 pending cases while in 2015 it had 38. The countries with the highest number of cases pending at the end of 2016 were Italy (2,350), Russia (1,573), Turkey (1,430) and Ukraine (1,147).

For Georgia the length of execution of cases under enhanced supervision was 3.3 years in 2016. This number was slightly lower than average, which is 4.7 years.

The ECHR awarded €221,000 (the amount nominally increased in comparison to 2015 - €184,652) in "just satisfaction” to applicants in cases concerning Georgia in 2016. The highest figures in this category was shown by Turkey €20,473,112, followed by €15,127,537 concerning Italy; €7,380,062 concerning Russia; €4,168,864 concerning Greece; and €3,329,990 for Hungary.

In 2016, Georgia respected payment deadline in most cases. And it has only one case awaiting for confirmation of payment from 31 December 2016 (as compared to 5 cases in 2015).

• You can see the full report here.