Russian Justice Ministry to pay 10 mln euro to Georgians expelled in 2006 on condition of money's fair distribution by Tbilisi among claimants
MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) - The Russian Justice Ministry, on the issue of paying 10 million euros awarded by the European Court of Human rights (ECHR) to Georgian citizens expelled from Russia in 2006, will be guided by Tbilisi's guarantees of fair distribution of the money.
"The question of a mechanism for implementation of the judgement will be decided depending on the Georgian authorities providing guarantees of fulfilling the obligation imposed on them by the ECHR of ensuring, under the control by the Council of Europe Ministerial Committee, of a fair distribution of the money among individual claimants in the established fashion," the ministry said in a statement obtained by Interfax on Thursday.
Furthermore, Russia will also take into account the absence of direct diplomatic relations with Georgia to this day, the ministry said.
On Thursday the ECHR Grand Chamber read out a ruling on the issue of compensation in view of the July 3, 2014 ruling in the Georgia v. Russia case regarding the circumstances of the 2006 mass expulsion from Russia of Georgians who were staying there illegally, the ministry said.
"The ECHR refused to grant Georgia's claim that Russia pay 70,320,000 euros in compensation and set the final sum at 10 million euros," the statement reads.
"The court accepted Russian arguments and compelled Georgia to provide an exhaustive list of individuals who may be considered as victims," the statement reads.
"Georgia's demands to be allowed to extend it later were rejected. The ECHR also refused to accept the Georgian authorities' allegations of 4,634 people affected. In its calculations the court used data submitted by Russia and cut the total number of affected people down to 1,500," the statement reads.