The Russian Federation has been found guilty of serious human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, but refuses to pay compensation or remedy the situations that gave rise to the violations, say Promo-LEX experts. Although expelled from the Council of Europe, Russia is still obliged under the European Convention on Human Rights to comply with the Court’s judgments for acts committed until September 16, 2022. In order to compensate the victims of unenforced ECHR judgments, Promo-LEX and other NGOs propose the use of Russian assets frozen abroad, such as foreign currency reserves or property seized as a result of sanctions, IPN reports.
The ECHR has found the Russian Federation responsible, together with the Republic of Moldova, in some cases for violations of the Convention, such as the Catan, Mozer and Sandu cases, but Russia has not provided the compensation and has not taken the general measures required, the Promo-LEX analysis says.
In December 2022, after Russia’s expulsion from the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers reiterated that Russia was still obliged to comply with the judgments of the ECHR in “Transnistrian cases”, emphasizing that in addition to paying compensation, Russia had to remedy the situations that led to the violations. However, the Russian authorities are not cooperating and have not presented any action plan for the execution of these judgments, sura added.
The European Convention on Human Rights does not provide for an enforcement mechanism. The Committee of Ministers has only political levers, no real “weapons” to force a state like Russia to pay. Thus, according to Promo-LEX, more than 2 200 ECHR judgments against Russia have not been enforced and victims risk never receiving the compensation awarded.
At the same time, the association points out, the current legislation contains many uncertainties and obstacles that prevent effective enforcement of the ECHR judgments against Russia, and without regulatory changes, any attempt to confiscate Russian state assets would likely be blocked in national courts by invoking sovereign immunity.
