As long as the Council of Europe exists, the Russian Federation will be obliged to execute the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, lawyer Vadim Vieru stated after Promo-Lex lawyers recently won a new case concerning the human rights in the Transnistrian region at the ECHR. The lawyer noted that Russia doesn’t implement the ECHR decisions now, but the political regime at the Kremlin could change in five-ten years, IPN reports.
Recently, the ECHR ascertained the violation of human rights in the Transnistrian region in the “Lypovchenko and Halabudenco” case. According to Promo-Lex lawyer Vadim Vieru, the Court held that the Russian Federation, by constantly exercising control over the Transnistrian region through political, economic and military support provided to the separatist authorities, assumes responsibility for the serious human rights abuses committed in the region.
“Promo-Lex still has at least 30 cases referring to the Transnistrian region and we are waiting for ECHR rulings on these cases. So far, we had another 40 cases at the ECHR featuring the Transnistrian region. The judgment on the case of Lypovchenko and Halabudenco is a very important one. The lawyers provided legal arguments that the pseudo-legal system in the Transnistrian region doesn’t meet the European standards and that’s why the violation of the rights of the two citizens was ascertained. One of them, Lypovchenko, was convicted for the simple fact that in his personal agenda he wrote that there must be a UN mission in the Transnistrian region. For this, he was convicted of extremism and placed in detention, being ill-treated and not being offered medical assistance. Now he is safe. He was released. Halabudenco had a similar situation when he was charged with illegal acts that haven’t been confirmed. We already have the ECHR ruling. Our role as lawyers is to insist that this ruling be executed,” Vadim Vieru stated in the talk show “Public Space” on Radio Moldova station.
According to the lawyer, the ECHR decisions remain in force as long as the Council of Europe exists and Russia will sooner or later be forced to execute them.
“According to international law and the provisions of the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers deals with the execution of ECHR judgments. We have many judgements that are waiting to be executed. We don’t know what political regime will be in the Russian Federation in the future. It’s possible that it will change in five-ten years and the states don’t escape the obligation to execute international decisions. As long as the Council of Europe exists, the Russian Federation will be obliged to execute these decisions,” said the program director of the Promo-LEX Association.
In the case of citizen Lypovchenko, the ECHR found the violation of several rights, including: the right not to be subjected to torture and the right to liberty. The Government of the Russian Federation was ordered to pay the applicant €26,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damages and €4,000 in court costs. In the case of citizen Halabudenco, the ECHR found the violation of the rights to liberty, privacy and a fair trial. In this case, the ECHR ordered Russia to pay the applicant €6,500 in respect of non-pecuniary damages.
