“The ECtHR found that there had been a violation of the Convention on Human Rights. The court confirmed that Abkhazia is a territory over which Russia exercises de facto control”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The ECtHR established that there was a violation of the Convention on Human Rights, articles “right to property” and “right to property and family life”. The Court confirmed that Abkhazia was a territory over which Russia exercised de facto control, that the applicants had houses in Abkhazia, but that there were no effective domestic means to protect their rights to use that property in either Georgia or Russia.
“In this case, the court found Russia responsible for ongoing property violations,” the Ministry of Justice of Georgia said in a statement.
Among the applicants were two citizens of Russia and four citizens of Georgia.
“Due to the hostilities that began in 1992, most of the applicants fled from Abkhazia to other parts of Georgia and were unable to return there… The Court found that Georgia continued to make efforts to restore state control over the territory, including through the Law on the Occupied Territories of 2008 of the year, which annulled all real estate agreements in violation of Georgian legislation and confirmed the ownership of the occupied territories,” the court said in a statement.
The Minister of Justice of Georgia commented on the ECtHR’s decision:
“The Georgian authorities won another victory in the Strasbourg Court, which once again confirmed the territorial integrity of Georgia,” said Anri Ohanashvili.
In March 2022, Russia was expelled from the European Council due to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. From September 16, 2022, it is no longer a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, although the Council of Europe emphasizes that Russia is obliged to comply with court decisions in cases initiated before September 16, 2022. In March of last year, Moscow stopped implementing ECtHR decisions, as well as reporting on their implementation.
Read also: August war of 2008. Georgian fighters in Ukraine are also waging their own war with Russia
After the war in 2008, Russia recognized the “independence” of Georgia’s separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There are Russian troops and bases in both regions. In addition to Russia, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali’s decision on independence was also recognized by Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru. Tbilisi and Western countries consider these territories to be occupied regions of Georgia.