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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2021)1398/H46-15 |
11 March 2021 |
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1398th meeting, 9-11 March 2021 (DH)
H46-15 Ozdil and Others v. Republic of Moldova (Application No. 42305/18) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments Reference document |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that this case concerns the applicants’ unlawful, unnecessary and arbitrary deprivation of liberty and lack of respect for their private and family life (violations of Articles 5 § 1 and 8 of the Convention) on account of their extra-legal transfer from the Republic of Moldova to Turkey in September 2018, circumventing all guarantees offered to them by domestic and international law;
As regards the individual measures
2. noted with satisfaction the decision of the Chișinău Court of Appeal ordering the Bureau for Migration and Asylum to grant refugee status to one of the applicants; invited the authorities to keep the Committee informed on the outcome of the proceedings pending in respect of another two applicants and clarify whether these proceedings also concern the entry ban imposed on them; strongly encouraged them to initiate proprio motu the revision proceedings concerning the entry ban; in addition, invited the authorities to provide information on whether in the asylum proceedings the Chișinău Court of Appeal had access to the classified material, including the confidential note from the secret services;
3. invited, further, the authorities to continue to obtain detailed information from the Turkish authorities on the current situation of the applicants in Turkey, including on the outcome of the appeal proceedings in their criminal cases, the family visits to the applicants and the possible application of the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (ETS No. 112);
As regards the investigation and criminal proceedings against those responsible for the violations
4. considered that, to avoid similar abuses and grave human rights violations in the future, it is imperative that serious efforts are made to establish the truth about what happened and how and strongly encouraged the authorities to fully investigate, under adequate public scrutiny, the possible involvement of any higher-level actors;
5. welcomed the publication of an extract from the classified judgment but regretted further that it offers only minimal information about the proceedings; invited the authorities to provide further information which will allow the Committee to form its view on the adequacy of the fine applied as a sanction, as well as on the outcome of the appeal proceedings;
As regards the other general measures
6. welcomed the judgment of the Constitutional Court of 13 November 2020 declaring unconstitutional several provisions related to the expulsion of aliens on national security grounds and invited the authorities to keep the Committee informed on the legislative amendments which should follow this judgment;
7. noted with interest the message of the President of the State underlining the inadmissibility of an improper influence on the intelligence services and encouraged the authorities to strengthen this message by an unequivocal call to the intelligence services as to the absolute unacceptability of, and zero tolerance towards, arbitrary detention and extra-legal transfers, underlining in this context the importance of ensuring that any future international co-operation, including with foreign secret services, is consistent with overarching human rights obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights;
8. regretted the authorities’ lack of a response to the Committee’s call to start a reflection on the existing oversight and accountability mechanism over the actions and powers of the secret services and firmly reiterated the need for the authorities to heed this call without delay; noted in this context the relevance of the inquiry carried out by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defence and Public Order and invited the authorities to provide information on whether de-classifying the materials related to this inquiry is being considered;
9. invited the authorities to provide, by 30 September 2021, updated information on all questions raised and decided to resume consideration of this case at their 1419th meeting (December 2021) (DH).