At its meeting on 4 December, which was devoted to implementation of European Court of Human Rights judgments, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted 71 final resolutions, noting the compliance of the actions of 24 states with 172 of the Court’s decisions, and four interim resolutions involving “more complex situations requiring special attention” in Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria.
The Court called on the Russian authorities to finalise their consultations so that they can pay the €10 million owed to Georgia following the arrest, detention and deportation of at least 1,500 Georgian nationals in 2006-2007, which was set by a just satisfaction judgment that was delivered on 31 January 2019, and which is intended for redistribution to the victims.
Turkey was urged to release businessman and human rights defender Mehmet Osman Kavala without delay. Kavala was arrested in October 2017 and imprisoned on the grounds that he had attempted to overthrow the government. The Court ruled in December 2019 that he was sentenced despite the absence of incriminating evidence and in order to intimidate other human rights activists, and called for his immediate release.
The resolution pertaining to the United Kingdom involves deaths that occurred during security force operations in Northern Ireland during the 1980s and 1990s. London promised a new judicial approach in March 2020, but did not provide any information at that stage about its plans.
Bulgaria was urged to finalise a legislative process that it initiated in 2019 to ensure that any individual subject to a deportation or demolition order can qualify for a proportionality test. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)