Georgia pays nearly €750,000 in ECHR compensation in 2025
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has published its 2025 report on the implementation of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The report shows that while some countries have made notable progress, systemic problems persist, including in Georgia.
In 2025, Georgia paid €748,817 in compensation under ECHR rulings, a sharp increase compared with the previous year, when the figure stood at just €85,512.
Georgia’s cases at the ECHR: statistics and trends
Since ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights in 1999, a total of 202 cases have been brought against Georgia before the ECHR in Strasbourg.
Of these:
- 82 are classified as leading cases
- 120 as repetitive cases
Of the total, 125 cases have now been closed, meaning the judgments have been implemented:
- 53 leading cases
- 72 repetitive cases
New cases: types of violations identified
In 2025, 11 new cases against Georgia moved to the supervision stage for the execution of judgments. This marks a slight decrease compared with previous years (13 in 2024 and 15 in 2023), but the nature of the problems remains unchanged.
The main issues include:
- Excessive length of judicial proceedings
- Restrictions on freedom of assembly
- In one case, excessive use of force by police against protest participants
Pending implementation: accumulated cases
By the end of 2025, Georgia still had 77 unimplemented judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
Among them:
- 9 leading cases under enhanced supervision (5 of these have been pending for more than five years)
- 20 leading cases under the standard procedure (9 of these have also remained unresolved for over five years)
The report notes that the authorities have submitted:
- 7 action plans
- 15 action reports
However, updated information is still awaited in four cases.
Compensation and financial obligations
In 2025, Georgia fully paid compensation in nine cases. However, overdue obligations remain an issue:
- In five cases, compensation payments or their confirmation are delayed
- The deadlines set by the European Court have expired more than six months ago
Closed cases and signs of progress
In 2025, the Committee of Ministers closed seven cases:
- 2 leading cases
- 5 repetitive cases
One notable achievement was progress in the area of the right to respect for family life. Courts have increasingly relied on the “best interests of the child”, which allowed a specific case to be closed.
The remaining closed cases largely fell into categories where no further individual measures were required.
Systemic problems: key challenges remain
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe highlighted five key cases (or groups of cases) under enhanced supervision, reflecting systemic shortcomings in the legal system:
- Ineffective investigations into ill-treatment and violations of the right to life, including excessive use of force by police
- Unjustified extension of pre-trial detention and insufficient reasoning by courts
- Lack of a legal gender recognition mechanism
- Weak protection against homophobic and religiously motivated violence
- Violations related to demonstrations and arbitrary administrative detentions
Additional concerns include:
- Insufficient mechanisms to prevent domestic violence
- Excessive length of judicial proceedings
- Challenges in ensuring impartial justice
Russia’s obligations and unimplemented judgments
The report also addresses Russia, particularly in relation to inter-state cases involving Georgia.
According to the Committee of Ministers:
- Russia has not implemented the judgment concerning the mass arrests and deportations of Georgians in 2006–2007
- Compensation has not been paid for human rights violations linked to the August 2008 war
The Committee stresses that the lack of cooperation from Russia, as well as insufficient information, remains one of the key systemic obstacles. Despite being expelled from the Council of Europe in 2022, Russia is still obliged to comply with court judgments concerning violations that occurred before its expulsion.
European picture: progress and systemic risks
In 2025, the Committee of Ministers closed a total of 949 cases—an increase of 6.2% compared with the previous year. Of these, 194 were leading cases, a category that often requires systemic reforms.
The report highlights several positive examples:
- Ukraine — 97 cases closed (including 11 leading cases)
- Romania — which recorded the sharpest reduction in both the total number of cases and leading cases
Significant progress was also noted in Austria, Estonia, France, Germany and Lithuania.
However, the overall picture remains challenging. Key issues include:
- Increasing complexity of cases
- A growing number of long-standing cases
- More than 500 leading cases pending execution for over five years
Georgia remains in this category, indicating that despite some progress, the need for systemic reforms persists.
How Georgia implements ECHR judgments
