15 May New hearing of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights held a hearing on May 3, 2018: Georgia v. Russia (II) (application no. 38263/08): concerning the armed conflict between Georgia and the Russian Federation in August 2008 and its aftermath.

The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 11 August 2008 under Article 33 of the European Convention on Human Rights and it was accompanied by a request for an interim measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. On 12 August 2008, the President of the Court, acting as President of the Chamber, decided to apply Rule 39. The rule 39 allows the Court that following a request from a State or a person who has an application pending before it, to request the respondent Government on a temporary basis to take or refrain from taking certain measures. The Court will only make an order under Rule 39 where there is an imminent risk of serious and irreversible harm. The application of Rule 39 has since been prolonged several times and is still in force.

This case raises issues under Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security), 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention, under Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property and right to education), as well as under Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 (freedom of movement) to the European Convention. Following a hearing on September 2011, a Chamber on December 2011 declared the application admissible, without prejudging the merits of the case. On April 2012 the Chamber to which the case had been allocated relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber. The Court heard 33 witnesses in total: 16 summoned through the Georgian Government, 11 through the Government of the Russian Federation and six directly by the Court.

References from Official website of the European Court of Human Rights.