On Monday 12 December, Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, announced that she had written to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on 9 December to “urge Russia to implement outstanding judgments from the European Court of Human Rights”.
Excluded from the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022, Russia is still obliged to comply with the Court’s judgments relating to its “actions and omissions” carried out up to 16 September 2022 (6 months after its expulsion).
The Secretary General’s letter follows a request from the Committee of Representatives of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Council of Europe.
The Committee, which is responsible for supervising the execution of the Court’s judgments, met last week and decided to adopt a new strategy for the supervision of Russian cases, including two inter-state cases between the Russian Federation and Georgia.
It envisages making “more general decisions”, linked to “larger groups of cases” and announces the regular publication of updates of all pending cases and a register of “just satisfaction” awards.
In order to obtain information despite the refusal of the Russian authorities to communicate, the Council of Europe will strengthen contacts with relevant NGOs and reinforce its interaction with relevant UN instruments.
There are currently 2,227 cases under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers awaiting full implementation by Moscow.
Since the beginning of the armed aggression in Ukraine in February 2022, three cases involving Russia have been closed.
Letter to Minister Lavrov: https://aeur.eu/f/4m4
New strategy: https://aeur.eu/f/4m7 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)