In a significant ruling, the Strasbourg Court has delivered a decisive verdict in the interstate dispute titled "Georgia v. Russia (IV)" – commonly known as the "continuous occupation case". The court has held Russia fully accountable for egregious human rights violations, including harassment, detention, assaults, and killings of the Georgian populace in the occupied territories and along the occupation line and official tolerance of indicated crimes. These atrocities unfold against the backdrop of the ongoing territorial occupation of Georgia and the practice of "borderization".
Today's judgment by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) underscores Georgia's territorial integrity and bolsters its sovereignty. According to the Strasbourg Court, Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region are universally recognized as integral parts of Georgia by the international community, rendering the process of "borderization" illegal. Consequently, any restrictions imposed by the de facto authorities under Russian occupation are deemed unlawful and incompatible with the European Convention. Furthermore, the European Court has found that the conditions of "borderization" systematically violate a range of fundamental rights, including the right to life, prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment, right to liberty and security, right to privacy and family life, property rights, educational rights, and freedom of movement.
Specifically, the Strasbourg Court's assessment highlights:
- Russia’s violation of the right to life (Article 2 of the European Convention) through the killing of ethnic Georgians along the occupation line, as well as their deaths while attempting to traverse the occupied territory for essential services like pensions or medical care;
- Inhumane treatment and detention conditions of ethnic Georgians detained along the occupation line as a breach of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment (Article 3 of the European Convention);
- Any arrest or imprisonment of ethnic Georgians for crossing the occupation line constitutes a violation of the right to freedom and security (Article 5 of the European Convention);
- The restrictions imposed by installation of barbed wire and the process of "borderization", including limitations on movement, access to homes, property, and graves, continuously violate the rights to security of personal and family life (Article 8 of the European Convention), property rights (Article 1 of the European Convention and Article 1 of the Additional Protocol), and freedom of movement (Article 2 of the 4th Additional Protocol of the European Convention);
- The prohibition of education in the Georgian language in occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region infringes upon the right to education in one's native language (Article 2 of the First Additional Protocol of the European Convention).
The European Court's decision unequivocally affirms that the Georgian language is the native language in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region.
The Ministry of Justice of Georgia extends heartfelt congratulations to the entire nation on this historic victory and expresses gratitude to the state agencies, particularly the State Security Service, the General Prosecutor's Office, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for their diligent efforts during the evidence collection phase.
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