CASE OF IDENTOBA AND OTHERS AGAINST GEORGIA AND 6 OTHER CASES

Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2025)31 Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights Identoba and Others group v. Georgia   (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 6 March 2025 at the 1521st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)   Application Case Judgment of Final on 73235/12 IDENTOBA AND OTHERS 12/05/2015 12/08/2015 71156/01 97 MEMBERS OF THE GLDANI CONGREGATION OF THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND 4 OTHERS 03/05/2007 03/08/2007 7224/11 AGHDGOMELASHVILI AND JAPARIDZE 08/10/2020 08/01/2021 54217/16 MIKELADZE AND OTHERS 16/11/2021 16/02/2022 73204/13   WOMEN’S INITIATIVES SUPPORTING GROUP AND OTHERS 16/12/2021 16/03/2022 24225/19 GEORGIAN MUSLIM RELATIONS AND OTHERS 30/11/2023 29/02/2024 14794/11 TSULUKIDZE AND OTHERS 16/05/2024 16/05/2024   The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);   Recalling that this group of cases concerns mainly the structural problem of the State’s failure to ensure protection from homophobic or religiously-motivated attacks by private individuals during marches or gatherings and in some instances official acquiescence and connivance in these acts, as well as police abuse committed with homophobic/transphobic or religious bias, and the absence of effective investigations into these incidents;   Recalling the State’s duty to act as the ultimate guarantor of the principles of equality, pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness, and the Committee’s previous indications to the authorities, aimed at ensuring that all the necessary individual and general measures are taken in these cases;   Emphasising the obligation of every State, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention, to abide fully, effectively, and promptly by the final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in any case to which they are a party:   STRONGLY URGED, once again, the authorities to accelerate and complete all renewed investigations and trial proceedings, by taking the necessary investigative actions in line with the European Court’s legal and factual findings, ensuring appropriate legal qualification of criminal offences and due consideration of a bias motive, as well as granting victim status to all applicants concerned;   CALLED UPON the authorities to enforce the domestic court’s judgment in the Georgian Muslim Relations and Others case without further delay and to enable the first applicant to use the school building without any impediment;     DEEPLY DEPLORED that, notwithstanding the Committee’s indications, the authorities proceeded with the enactment of the Law on “Protecting Family Values and Minors”, which, among others, in prohibiting public assemblies aimed at promoting LGBTI identities represents a backward step in the execution of the judgments in the Identoba and Others group and thus raises serious questions as to the compliance by Georgia with its obligation to abide by the final judgments of the European Court;   CALLED UPON the authorities to repeal the law and not to proceed with any further practical or legislative steps that would further endanger Georgia’s compliance with its obligations under Article 46 of the Convention;   STRONGLY EXHORTED the authorities to renounce discriminatory narrative and unequivocally fight against all forms of discrimination, hate speech and hate crime, including by conveying an unambiguous zero-tolerance message at the highest level and by taking resolute actions to end impunity;   STRONGLY URGED the authorities to guarantee effective exercise of freedom of assembly and religion for all individuals without any discrimination, by taking heightened protection and prevention measures, ensuring firm criminal justice response to any bias motivated unlawful action by law enforcement or private individuals, including organisers and instigators of hate-motivated violence;   CALLED UPON the authorities, once again, to provide detailed information about the modalities of operation of the envisaged system of specialisation for hate crime investigations, including the timeframes for its operationalisation, as well as the statistical data on reported hate crime allegations;   INVITED the authorities to submit information on the above issues by the end of June 2025 at the latest.