Strasbourg, 16/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of Ministers (CM) of the Council of Europe (CoE) on Monday 14 March published the decisions and resolutions adopted at its 1250th 'Human Rights' meeting. Four times a year (March, June, September and December), it examines the state of play with the implementation of the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) by the member states of the CoE.
The texts adopted concern Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Cyprus, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.
The list of cases subjected to a more detailed examination is available on the website of the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights service and that of the CM, but overall, the persistent nature of the problems concerning the most illustrious cases of the ECHR can be seen.
The case of Ilgar Mammadov (definitive judgment of 13 October 2014), a human rights defender from Azerbaijan, is highlighted by the CM delegates. “The fundamental shortcomings in the criminal proceedings brought against him were established by judgment of the ECHR, but the petitioner has still not been freed” and what is more, “no reply has been forthcoming to the request for guarantees regarding his physical integrity”, the text adopted states. The CM therefore calls on the authorities of Azerbaijan to act in line with the decision of the Court whilst providing “full and complete information regarding the measures taken and/or under consideration to avoid any further violations of the presumption of innocence”. The case, which is by no means closed, has been referred to the 1251stth 'Human Rights' meeting of the CM in June of this year. If the petitioner has not been freed in the meantime, the Secretariat of the CM will be asked to prepare a “draft interim resolution providing for stringent measures”.
June will also see the continued examination of the measures taken by Belgium (case Trabelsi/final judgment of 11 February 2015) and Poland (cases of the El Nashiri group/final judgment also on 11 February 2015) in the framework of the extradition of petitioners to the United States, where they will be tried for acts of terrorism. The Polish case is of particular concern to the CM, as the American authorities have decided “not to comply with the request for diplomatic assurances that the death penalty will not be applied”. The death penalty runs counter to the principles laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights of the CoE, an institution in which the United States has observer status, the text points out, calling upon the United States to reconsider its position. At the same time, the CM delegates called upon Poland to continue its efforts, whilst calling on the Secretary General of the CoE and the representatives of all the member states systematically to raise this issue in their contacts with the American authorities.
As regards the Russian Federation, the Alekseyev case is particularly worthy of note (definitive judgment of 11 April 2011) concerning the repeated ban on organising gay pride marches. Stressing that the “the judgment became definitive nearly 5 years ago”, the CM delegates “express serious concerns” at the fact that “the local authorities of the Russian Federation continue to refuse the time and place to hold public manifestations similar to the ones in question in the present judgment, principally on the basis of the federal law banning propaganda in favour of non-traditional sexual relations”.
Turkey must make progress on the application of a series of judgments concerning the situation in the northern part of Cyprus, notably on one of these regarding the disappearance of nine Greek Cypriots in 1974 (definitive judgment of 28 September 2009) and on the recourse to unjustified and excessive force during military operations. It must also adopt “specific and targeted measures” in order to prevent “disproportionate measures in the framework of the exercise of the freedom of expression”, measures which were called for in the judgment of 18 October 2014 regarding the Nedim Sener group case. This relates to a group of investigative journalists suspected of complicity with the organisation Ergenikon and imprisoned for more than one year. Given the current situation in Turkey, the CM delegates “invite the Turkish authorities to provide the Committee, before the 1265th Human Rights meeting (September 2016) with statistics for the period from 1 March 2012 to 1 June 2016 concerning the number of journalists held and/or sentenced, the reasons for their imprisonment and the duration of this”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)