Resolution CM/ResDH(2007)77[1]
Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
Aziz against Cyprus
(Application No. 69949/01, judgment of 22/06/2004, final on 22/09/2004)
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 referred to as “the Convention” and “the Court”),
Having regard to the judgment, transmitted by the Court to the Committee once it had become final;
Recalling that the violations of the Convention found by the Court in this case concern the applicant's right to vote in parliamentary elections (violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1) and discrimination against him on the ground of his Turkish origin (violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No 1, see details in Appendix);
Having invited the government of the respondent state to inform the Committee of the measures taken in order to comply with Cyprus' obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide by the judgment;
Having examined the information provided by the government in accordance with the Committee's Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;
Having satisfied itself that, within the time-limit set, the respondent state paid the applicant the just satisfaction provided in the judgment (see details in Appendix),
Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded in the judgment, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate:
- of individual measures to put an end to the violations and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and
- of general measures, preventing similar violations,
DECLARES, having examined the measures taken by the respondent state (see Appendix) that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in this case and
DECIDES to close the examination of this case.
Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2007)77
Information about the measures to comply with the judgment in the case of
Aziz against Cyprus
Introductory case summary
The case concerns the violation of the right of the applicant (a Cypriot of Turkish origin having resided all his life in the part of Cyprus controlled by the government) to vote in the parliamentary elections of May 2001, in that the constitutional provisions providing for two separate (Greek and Turkish) electoral lists were rendered ineffective due to the special political situation in Cyprus and to the absence of legislation giving effect to the right to vote of Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled part of the Republic of Cyprus (violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1). The European Court also found that these facts constituted discrimination on the ground of the applicant's Turkish origin (violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1).
I.Payment of just satisfaction and individual measures
a) Details of just satisfaction
Pecuniary damage
Non-pecuniary damage
Costs and expenses
Paid on
-
-
3 500 EUR
21/10/2004
b) Individual measures
The applicant's enjoyment of the right to vote in the Republic of Cyprus depends on the general measures below. The European Court found in this context that the legislative reform needed in Cyprus to execute this judgment and the findings of the judgment constitute sufficient just satisfaction for the applicant (§43 of the judgment).
II.General measures
Immediately after the Court's judgment, the Cypriot authorities began the drafting of new legislation in order to comply fully with the judgment. Law 2(I) of 2006 on “the exercise of the right to vote and to be elected by members of the Turkish community with habitual residence in free territory of the Republic” entered into force on 10/02/2006. In conformity with the Court's judgment (as noted in the introduction to the Law), this Law gives effect to the right to vote and to be elected in parliamentary, municipal and community elections of Cypriot nationals of Turkish origin habitually residing in the Republic of Cyprus, thus preventing new, similar violations. In addition, Cypriot nationals of Turkish origin now have the right to vote in presidential elections. As a consequence, in the parliamentary elections of 21 May 2006 two hundred and seventy (270) Turkish Cypriots cast their ballot while one Turkish Cypriot was a candidate MP.
Finally, the Court's judgment was promptly translated and published on the site of the Cyprus Bar (), as well as in the widely-read Cyprus Law Tribune, 2005, issue No. 2, 66 ff. It was also immediately and directly applied by the Supreme Court (see judgment in the case of Arif Moustafa against Ministry of Interior, 24/09/2004 - the case concerned the right to protection of property of a Cypriot citizen of Turkish origin, available at ).
III.Conclusions of the respondent state
The Government considers that the measures adopted have fully remedied the consequences for the applicant of the violations found in this case and that these measures will prevent new, similar violations. Cyprus has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention.
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 20 June 2007 at the 997th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies.
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