European Court Delivers Verdict against Russia, Says it Must Pay 10 million to Georgia
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, February 4
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Russia and stated that the latter must pay 10 million EUR compensation to Georgia for the arrest and mass deportation of Georgians in Autumn 2006 and early 2007.
The compensation should be distributed between 1,500 Georgian nationals.
Those who became the victims of collective expulsion will receive EUR 2,000, and EUR 10,000 to EUR 15,000 will go to the victims of unlawful deprivation of liberty and inhuman and degrading conditions of detention.
Between 2006 and 2007 more than 4,600 expulsion orders were issued by Russian authorities against Georgian nationals.
More than 2,300 were detained and forcibly expelled and the remaining left the country by their own means.
The official Russian position was that the Georgian victims had violated Russia’s Immigration Laws and their treatment in custody and expulsion from the country was standard law enforcement.
The mass deportation was preceded by the arrest of four Russian officers on charges of espionage by the previous government of Georgia in September 2006, later in 2006, large numbers of Georgian nationals were mistreated in Russia.
ECHR started discussions regarding the case submitted by Georgia against Russia in 2009.
In 2014, the European Court finally ruled against Russia and gave Moscow 12 months to negotiate with Georgia the precise terms of compensation.
In 2015, Georgia officially requested in excess of 70 million EUR for the victims.
On 31 January 2019 ECHR ruled that as result of the 2014 verdict, and upon Georgia's 2015 application for damage compensation, Russia has to pay 10 million EUR to Georgia.
The Government of Georgia has called the verdict a “big victory.”
Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani said that the enforcement of the verdict will take place under the suppression of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
Former Georgian Deputy Justice Minister Thea Burjaliani says that it will be very hard to make Russia pay the compensation, as in most cases the country ignores the verdicts by the European court.
“Legal levers are few and Georgia will have to work very closely with the Committee of ministers for the legal and political levers to be used,” Burjaliani told Netgazeti.
ECHR rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of civil and political rights.
