Court finds violations by Russia of property and family rights for those forced from property in Abkhazia (Taganova and Others v Georgia and Russia)
On 17 December 2024, the European Court of Human Rights handed down an important judgment litigated by EHRAC and Georgian partner lawyers concerning the rights of individuals who were forced from their properties in the early 1990s as a result of conflict in Abkhazia, part of the internationally recognised territory of Georgia, but occupied by a semi-autonomous body that is effectively controlled by the Russian Federation.
The cases, which were joined into a single judgment, were taken against both Russia and Georgia by a number of Georgian nationals who had fled Abkhazia and were unable to return, and a Georgian who remained and took Russian citizenship and was unable to access his property for a significant amount of time. Whilst the events occurred long before either Russia or Georgia had joined the Convention, the Court found that the deprivation of property was a continuing situation, bringing it within the States’ temporal jurisdictions.
Whilst no violations were found concerning Georgia’s positive obligations to re-establish control over the territory and protect the applicants’ rights, the judgment importantly reaffirmed Georgia’s responsibilities under the Convention for violations of rights in occupied territory, and rejected its reservations over its inability to guarantee the right to property in the occupied territories.
Against Russia, the Court found violations of the right to property (Article 1 of Protocol 1) and the right to family life (Article 8) for all but one applicant, on the basis that Russia had effective control over the territory, and that they had been continually denied access to their properties and that Russia had failed to provide adequate redress and assistance, including the creation of a property claims mechanism.
EHRAC co-litigated these cases with a number of Georgian lawyers.
Read the full judgment here: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-238515
