Russia to pay ˆ30,000 to a Georgian victim of 2006 deportation
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, December 23
The 2006 deportation of Georgians from Russia refers to the deaths, unlawful arrests and mistreatment of thousands of ethnic Georgians by the Russian government.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has released its verdict, saying Russia must pay ˆ30,000 compensation to a Georgian woman who was deported from Russia in 2006.
The Georgian woman, Lia Shioshvili, was expelled from the Russian Federation with her four underage children. At that time she was nine months pregnant, and gave birth to a stillborn baby on returning to Georgia.
The Court stressed that Russia had violation the articles related to prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment, right to an effective remedy, freedom of movement and prohibition of collective expulsion.
The ECtHR’s verdict reported that Shioshvili was one among thousands of Georgians who were deported from Russia in the autumn of 2006.
“The applicants complained that they had been collectively expelled from Russia, but then prevented from leaving the country for almost two weeks whilst being exposed to very poor conditions by the Russian authorities. Though the family did eventually reach Georgia, after arriving the pregnant mother gave birth to a still-born baby,” the Court said.
The Court found that the Russian authorities had subjected the mother to collective expulsion without properly assessing her case, before unlawfully preventing the family from leaving Russia, requiring them to stay with little money in an unfamiliar city in winter, and then failing to accommodate their needs arising from their very vulnerable situation.
“Furthermore, the applicants had no access to any remedy in relation to these events,” the court added.
“The damage I received, first of all I mean the death of my baby, will never be compensated. However, it’s welcomed that the court ruled in favour of me, it was a fair solution,” Shioshvili stated.
The 2006 deportation of Georgians from Russia referred to the deaths, unlawful arrests, expulsions and overall mistreatment of several thousand ethnic Georgians by the Russian government in 2006.
The official Russian position was that the Georgian victims had violated Russia’s Immigration Laws.
Georgia appealed to the ECtHR, and in 2014 the European Court ruled in Georgia's favour, concluding that Russia's actions in 2006 violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
In 2015, Georgia officially requested in excess of $70 million in damages for the victims. Russia has not paid the money. However, there were some cases when Russia accepted to pay the money after the ECtHR’s verdict.
