The 2021 report of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, which was published on Wednesday 30 March, highlights some positive points, but above all emphasises the fact that “the system faces a number of serious challenges”.
Among the developments, the report notes that there is hope of a major breakthrough in the case of “Georgia v Russia”, one of the three inter-state cases dealt with directly by the Committee of Ministers, the so-called “standard procedure” cases being dealt with by the Department for the Execution of Judgments. In this case, Russia was ordered to pay €10 million to Georgia by way of just satisfaction for 1,500 Georgians that were expelled by Moscow in 2006. Following memoranda signed by the two states and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the reports states that this sum, together with interest on arrears, will be paid into a Council of Europe escrow bank account. However, it does point out that Russia’s exit from the Council of Europe will have consequences for supervising the execution of judgments.
Like inter-state cases or so-called “pilot” judgments, leading cases that highlight systemic and structural problems are the direct responsibility of the Committee of Ministers.
Their number has increased by 40% in 2021 and “the challenges posed to the implementation process by such cases are likely to intensify, with the Court aiming to deliver more judgments in complex cases”, warn the three Chairs of the Committee of Ministers’ human rights meetings in their preface to the report.
Cases that involve urgent individual measures are also dealt with directly by the Council of Europe executive.
In the case of “Kavala v Turkey”, the Court called in 2019 for the immediate release of this opponent who had been held in detention prior to the trial since 2017. However, this has not been successful, despite repeated calls by the Committee of Ministers since the judgment was handed down. A letter of formal notice preceding the initiation of a sanction procedure was therefore served on Turkey in December 2021 and this is included in the report. The unremarked upon follow-up is now known: in January 2022, the Istanbul High Criminal Court refused his release, and in February, the Committee of Ministers referred the case to the European Court of Human Rights. This set in motion a procedure that might lead to the suspension of Turkey’s right to vote or even, in the long run, to its suspension or exclusion, something that would be a first. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)