The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has published its annual report for 2017 on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today.

In accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights, the Committee of Ministers is responsible for supervising the execution of the court’s judgments by the states concerned.

Today’s annual report is an in-depth look at the current state of the execution process, providing statistics and examples for 2017 as well as longer-term trends.

Areas of achievements by Georgia:

• Actions of security forces: Improved independence and effectiveness of investigations into allegations of excessive use of force, ill-treatment by the police (including in police custody). The measures include better provisions for greater involvement of victims or their relatives.
• Detention: The power of bailiffs to arrest individuals is better circumscribed, and guarantees for the holding of a public hearing and respect for equality of arms have been adopted. The possibility for detained persons to obtain compensation for their illegal or unjustified detention is ensured, independently of conviction or acquittal.
• Compensation to victims of Soviet era repression: Legislative amendments were adopted in 2011 and 2014 in order to grant compensation to the victims of Soviet era repression.
• Electoral rights: Clear criteria were introduced to define when the Central Electoral Commission can use its power to invalidate elections. Furthermore, an effective remedy against its decisions was introduced.

In 2017 Georgia had 10 new cases registered at the ECHR, an increase compared to seven in 2016. Meanwhile the countries with the highest number of new cases registered in 2017 were Russia (370), Turkey (138), Romania (110), Ukraine (109), and Greece (103).

13 cases related to Georgia were closed in 2016 – more than double as compared to six in 2016. The countries that closed the highest total number of cases in 2017 were Italy (2,001), Hungary (296), Russia (254), Romania (144), and Poland (133).

Georgia has 36 pending cases, a slight decrease from 39 in 2016. The countries with the highest number of cases pending at the end of 2017 were Russia (1,689), Turkey (1,446), Ukraine (1,156), Romania (553) and Italy (389).

For Georgia there were five leading cases under enhanced execution pending for more than 5 years.

The ECHR awarded €120,151 (almost twice less than in 2016 – 221,000EUR) in "just satisfaction” to applicants in cases concerning Georgia in 2017. The highest figures in this category were against Russia at €14.6m, followed by €12.5m against Italy, €11.6m against Turkey, €5.9m against the Slovak Republic, and €3.7m against Greece.

In 2017, Georgia respected payment deadline in eight cases; for four cases the payment was still awaited after the deadline has passed.