MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Notes on the Agenda

CM/Notes/1483/H46-31

7 December 2023

1483rd meeting, 5-7 December 2023 (DH) Human rights   H46-31 Georgia v. Russia (I) (Application No. 13255/07) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments Reference documents CM/ResDH(2020)368, CM/ResDH(2022)55, CM/ResDH(2022)146,CM/ResDH(2022)254, CM/ResDH(2022)354, CM/Del/Dec(2023)1468/H46-27

 

Application	Case	Judgment of	Final on	Indicator for the classification
13255/07	GEORGIA v. RUSSIA (I)	03/07/2014 31/01/2019	Grand Chamber	Inter-State case

Case description

The case concerns the arrest, detention and expulsion from the Russian Federation of large numbers of Georgian nationals from the end of September 2006 until the end of January 2007. In its principal judgment, the Court found that, from October 2006, a coordinated policy of arresting, detaining and expelling Georgian nationals, amounting to an administrative practice, had been implemented in the Russian Federation.

This practice led the Court to find six violations concerning:

•    the expulsion of Georgian nationals without a reasonable and objective examination of the particular case of each individual (Article 4 of Protocol No. 4);

•    arbitrary arrests and detentions of the Georgian nationals (Article 5 § 1 and 13);

•    the absence of effective and accessible remedies available to Georgian nationals against the arrests, detentions and expulsion orders (Article 5 § 4);

•    inhuman and degrading conditions of detention in police stations and detention centres for foreigners and a lack of effective remedy regarding the same (Articles 3 and 13).

The Court also found that the Russian authorities had failed to comply with their obligation to furnish all necessary facilities to the Court in its task of establishing the facts of the case (violation of Article 38).

In its just satisfaction judgment of 31 January 2019, the Grand Chamber held that, within three months, the Russian Federation was to pay the Government of Georgia 10,000,000 euros in respect of non-pecuniary damage suffered by the group of at least 1,500 Georgian nationals, who were the individual victims of the violations. The Court indicated that these amounts should be distributed by the Government of Georgia to the individual victims under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers within 18 months of the date of the payment or within any other period considered appropriate by the Committee of Ministers.

Status of execution

Payment of the just satisfaction and default interest

For a detailed account of the execution process relating to the payment of just satisfaction and default interest, see the Notes prepared for the 1411^th meeting (September 2021) (DH) and the 1436^th meeting (June 2022) (DH).

At its examination at the 1428^th meeting (March 2022) (DH), the Committee adopted an interim resolution in which it, inter alia, noted that the Russian authorities had signed the Memorandum of Understanding (to enable payment of the just satisfaction together with default interest accrued to take place through a Council of Europe bank account held in escrow) on 17 December 2021 and deeply deplored that, despite the signature, the Russian authorities had not made the payment of the funds by the end of 2021 as previously indicated.

The Committee of Ministers then examined this case at every subsequent Human Rights meeting until June 2023, adopting three interim resolutions deeply deploring that the Russian authorities had not provided any updated information about the process of payment, despite also the letters of 9 December 2022 and 9 March 2023 of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation informing him of the decisions and resolutions adopted by the Committee and urging the Russian authorities to comply with their obligations under international law and the Convention to fully abide by the judgments of the European Court.

At its examination at the 1468^th meeting (June 2023) (DH), it also strongly reiterated again its profoundest concern that the payment of the just satisfaction and default interest accrued had not been made despite the passage of over four years since the deadline for payment expired on 30 April 2019, and firmly reiterated again its insistence on the unconditional obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to pay the just satisfaction awarded by the Court. The Committee underlined that the default interest continues to accrue on the amount awarded by the Court and that on 5 June 2023, the total amount owed by the Russian Federation was EUR 11.525.068,49. Stressing once again that delay in fulfilling this obligation deprives the individual victims of the violations from receiving compensation for the damages suffered by them, the Committee strongly exhorted once again the Russian authorities to pay the just satisfaction, together with the default interest accrued, without any further delay.

In light of the Russian authorities’ deplorable failure to engage with the supervision process despite their obligation to do so, the Committee reiterated its invitation to the authorities of the member States to explore all possible means to ensure execution of the present case and invited the Chair of the Committee of Ministers to consider making a public statement conveying the Committee’s profound concerns about the present situation. Finally, it decided to resume consideration of this case at the present meeting.

In line with the Committee’s invitation, on 8 June 2023, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Edgars Rinkēvičs, made a public statement underlining that the Russian authorities must heed the Committee’s call and comply with their unconditional obligations under international law and the Convention to pay these sums and fully abide by the judgments of the European Court.[1]

General measures

For a detailed account of the execution process relating to the general measures, see the Notes prepared for the 1250^th meeting (March 2016) (DH) and the 1436^th meeting (June 2022) (DH).Most recently (see CM/ResDH(2022)146), the Committee considered that the developments in migration policy and related detention and expulsion procedures set out in an action report submitted on 17 February 2022 alone cannot fully respond to the root causes of the problem raised by the judgment. It regretted therefore that, based on the limited information available, it was not possible to draw any conclusions that a similar unlawful administrative practice may not be implemented in the future, and this particularly in the absence of the payment of the just satisfaction or any timeframe for the same set out in the action report. The Russian authorities have not provided any response.

Analysis by the Secretariat 

At the outset it is recalled that the Russian Federation ceased to be a High Contracting Party to the European Convention on Human Rights on 16 September 2022, and that the Court remains competent to deal with applications directed against the Russian Federation in relation to acts or omissions capable of constituting a violation of the Convention provided that they occurred until 16 September 2022. The Committee of Ministers will continue to supervise the execution of the judgments and friendly settlements concerned and the Russian Federation is required to implement them.

Despite the extensive efforts made including letters from the Secretary General and a public statement from the Chair of the Committee of Ministers, regrettably, at the time of the preparation of these Notes, no information has been provided by the Russian authorities and the Committee’s concerns have not been alleviated. In the repeated absence of any progress or response from the Russian authorities, the Committee may wish to reiterate its profoundest concerns expressed in the last decisions.

The Committee might also wish to underline, for the avoidance of any doubt, that the default interest continues to accrue on the amount awarded by the Court and that, as long as the European Central Bank exchange rate does not change in the meantime, on 5 December 2023, the total amount owed by the Russian Federation will be EUR 11 901 232,88, a figure which is also reflected in the public register of just satisfaction owing in all inter-state cases against the Russian Federation which will continue to be regularly updated.[2]

Lastly, it is recalled that in September 2023 the Committee adopted its decision CM/Del/Dec(2023)1475/A2a concerning cases pending against the Russian Federation. The Committee in particular took note of the proposals set out by the Secretariat in information document CM/Inf/DH(2023)22 regarding the means to ensure implementation of judgments of the Court with respect to the Russian Federation. It decided to keep under review strategies to ensure the implementation of the Court’s judgments including with regards to the unconditional obligation on the Russian Federation to pay just satisfaction. It is proposed to the Committee to resume its examination of the present case at the December 2024 DH meeting, once further strategies have been elaborated.

Financing assured: YES