CoE Committee of Ministers says Russia must fulfil ECHR judgments in Georgia’s favour
The body also adopted the Interim Resolution on the second interstate case concerning various violations in the context of the armed conflict between Georgia and Russia in August 2008.Photo:coe.int.
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The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on Friday “deeply” deplored the continued absence of response of Russian authorities to its earlier appeals for the state to implement the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the arrest, detention and collective expulsion of Georgian nationals between 2006-2007.
The Committee of Ministers “strongly exhorted” the Russian authorities to pay the long-overdue “just satisfaction” in the case, and also urged them to start fulfilling the judgement in a separate case related to the armed conflict in Georgia in 2008, the press office of the Council of Europe said.
The Committee also recalled that, despite ceasing to be a member of the Council of Europe on March 16 of this year, Russia was still required to implement judgments of the European Court, and the Committee of Ministers continued to supervise their execution.
In the former case, the 2019 judgement of the European Court ruled Russia had to pay the Georgian Government €10 million “in respect of non-pecuniary damage” suffered by a group of at least 1,500 Georgian nationals in their treatment by the Russian authorities.
The Committee “deeply deplored” the continued absence of the information from the Russian authorities and reiterated again its “most profound” concern that the payment of the just satisfaction and default interest accrued had not been made despite over three years passing since the deadline for payment expired on April 30, 2019.
The body also adopted the Interim Resolution on the second interstate case concerning various violations in the context of the armed conflict between Georgia and Russia in August 2008.
It “again” urged the Russian authorities to submit to the Committee of Ministers a plan on the execution of this judgement, and to investigate the “serious crimes” committed during the active phase of hostilities as well as during the period of subsequent occupation.
It also noted it was “firmly reiterat[ing]” its “profound concern” about the inability of Georgian nationals to return to their homes in the now-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia regions, and its insistence that Russia, which has “effective” control over these regions, “ensure without delay” a safe return of persons wishing to return to their homes.
The European Court of Human Rights ruling in a case involving a former prisoner has “confirmed” torture and inhuman treatment were “systematic and widespread” in Georgian prisons under the United National Movement Government, the country’s Justice Ministry said on Friday.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze and his deputies on Thursday briefed the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on the body’s planned 2023 work and innovative projects, including the introduction of a new generation of citizen IDs.
The “core issues” concerning the human rights and humanitarian situation in Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions “continue to see little progress”, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić said on Wednesday in her consolidated report on the conflict in Georgia.
Georgia has won all 3,300 complaints filed against it following the 2008 war with Russia to the European Court of Human Rights over potential violations and crimes committed during the conflict, Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said on Friday.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) has expressed its ‘profound concern’ that Russia, which is obliged to pay a €10 million fine to Georgian citizens illegally deported in 2006, has made no payment yet.
Russia is ready to participate in discussions over its obligation of paying €10 million in compensation to Georgian citizens who were illegally deported from Russia back in 2006, Georgian Justice Minister Gocha Lortkipanidze stated earlier today. The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in January 2019 that Russia must pay out the compensation. However, Russia has refused to do so.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has stated that the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to dismiss two cases filed by Russia against Georgia regarding the August 2008 war is an important step towards the de-occupation of the country’s two occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has announced its judgment today in the case of Georgia v. Russia, regarding the arrest, detention and collective expulsion of Georgian nationals from Russia in the autumn of 2006.