CoE Committee of Ministers Reaffirms Russia’s Obligation to Observe ECtHR Decisions

A recent session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe discussed the European Court for Human Rights [ECtHR] judgment on the case Catan and others.

According to the resolution adopted by the Vice-Ministers of the Committee of Ministers, during the meeting, they showed concern that, despite numerous appeals to the Russian Federation, to date, the Russian government has not sent any information to the Committee on their plan of actions to enforce the ECtHR judgment.

In this context, the Committee of Ministers reaffirmed the obligation of the Russian Federation as a member of the Council of Europe and signatory to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to enforce the judgments issued by the European Court.

The Committee also urged the Russian Federation to pay without delay the amounts awarded as moral and material damage under the judgment, and to inform the Committee on the timeline of its enforcement.

Earlier, the Russian authorities sent a memorandum to the Committee of Ministers on the case Catan and others. The document contains the conclusions of a roundtable, which took place in January this year, in Moscow, with the participation of representatives of renowned Russian universities, including: the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Moscow State University “M.V. Lomonosov”, the Russian State University “Druzhba Narodov”, the State Law Academy “O.E. Kutafin” in Moscow, the Kazan Federal University, and the State University of Novosibirsk.

According to the memorandum, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR had exceeded its authority when it ruled in the case of the Latin script schools in the Transnistrian region.

For more information on this issue, contact: Alexandru Postica, Human Rights Program Director at the Promo-LEX Association, Lawyer. tel: (022) 450024, GSM: 069104851, email: [email protected].