The Ministry of Justice said it took note of the judgment passed by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of the former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo. The judgment becomes irreversible three months after its publication. Subsequently, as part of the enforcement procedure, individual measures are to be carried out, including the payment of non-pecuniary damages caused to the plaintiff.

According to the MoJ, the case refers to the alleged impossibility of the applicant, as Prosecutor General, to contest his suspension from office in connection with the initiation of a criminal case against him.

“Relying on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the applicant complained to the Court that he did not have access to a court to challenge his suspension from office. Similarly, citing Article 13 of the Convention, he also complained about the lack of an effective remedy at the national level, through which he could challenge his suspension from office”, according to a press release from the Ministry.

Regarding the applicability of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, the Court supported the Government’s argument, according to which the national legislation excluded, at that time, the possibility of contesting the suspension from office. The Court considered that the automatic suspension from office of the Prosecutor General, in the event of the initiation of a criminal case against him, cannot be justified by objective reasons determined by the interest of the state, in the absence of any form of judicial review.

The MoJ also notes that the ECHR awarded the applicant 3,600 euros in respect of non-pecuniary damage and rejected the applicant’s claims for costs and expenses.

The former General Prosecutor Alexandr Stoianoglo won a case at the European Court of Human Rights in one of the two complaints filed. In particular, the ECHR found a violation of the right to an effective remedy, namely the right to challenge the decision of the Superior Council of Prosecutors of October 5, 2021, as a result of which he was suspended from office. Stoianoglo’s lawyer stated on Tuesday that the necessary solution is to repeatedly address the SCP “to fix its mistake”, to review that matter with the proper re-examination of the complaint.