The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe discussed the "Georgia against Russia (I)" (the so-called "deportation case") at the September debate of this year. At the session, the Georgian representation emphasized the importance of the implementation of the decision of the Strasbourg court in the case under consideration and voiced a clear position that despite the termination of the status of a member of the Council of Europe for the Russian Federation, the respondent state still remains unconditionally obliged to implement the decision.

Within the debates of the Committee of Ministers, the absolute majority of the delegations strongly condemned Russia's non-fulfilment of the above-mentioned obligation and fully shared the position of the representatives of Georgia.

Within the framework of the resolution, the Committee expressed its deep regret that, despite signing the memorandum of understanding, the Russian authorities have not paid the amount awarded to the victims by the European Court. According to the Committee of Ministers, the delay in the execution of the decision particularly harms the interests of the victims.

At the initiative of the Georgian side, the Committee of Ministers called on the member states to use all means to ensure the execution of the case. At the same time, the Committee shared the position of the Georgian side that in the conditions of the termination of the status of a member of the Council of Europe for Russia, it is necessary to develop a strategy for the supervision of the implementation of the decisions taken against Russia, with the involvement of all member states, and instructed the Secretariat of the Committee to submit relevant proposals and a vision for the implementation of the case under consideration before the next session, which will be held in December 2022.

As is known to the public, according to the decision of the Strasbourg Court of January 31, 2019, the Russian government was obliged to pay 10,000,000 euros to the Georgian side to be transferred to the victims who were victims of mass deportation from Russia in 2006. However, despite the efforts of the Georgian side and the Committee of Ministers, which ended with the signing of a memorandum of understanding at the end of 2021, Russia has not yet paid the amount.

At the initiative of the Georgian side, the Committee will return to the consideration of the deportation case at the next session, in December 2022.

As the public will be informed, on January 21, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) published its decision on the case - "Georgia v. Russia (II)" (the so-called "War Case"). The decision refers to the administrative practice of massive human rights violations against the population of Georgia during the August 2008 war and subsequent occupation by Russia, which exercised effective control over the Tskhinvali region and Abkhazia.

At the meeting of the Committee of Ministers in September of this year, the Georgian side spoke about the importance of the decision and stated a clear position that despite the termination of the status of a member of the Council of Europe for the Russian Federation, the respondent state still has an unconditional obligation to strictly implement the court's decision.

It is significant that the Committee of Ministers fully supported the Georgian side and emphasized the severity and scale of the established violations. The Ministerial Committee strongly called on Russia to submit as soon as possible a comprehensive action plan to implement the decision of the Grand Chamber of January 21 and to start taking effective steps to eliminate the root cause of the violations (i.e. the continued occupation) and to prevent the recurrence of similar human rights violations.

The Committee also expressed deep concern that the Russian Federation, which exercises effective control over Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region, still does not allow the internally displaced ethnic Georgian population to return to their homes and called on Russia to implement effective measures in this direction in order to implement the decision.

At the initiative of the Georgian side, the Committee will return to the consideration of the War Case at the next session, in December 2022.