CoE Committee of Ministers says Russia must fulfil ECHR judgments in Georgia’s favour

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.