9 September 2026

PACE report on Russia's unpaid judgments cites our expert work

Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe · Rapporteur: Tony Vaughan MP · Adopted unanimously, 9 September 2026

The Parliamentary Assembly's new report asks how judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against the Russian Federation can still be implemented. Russia now owes over €3.3 billion in unpaid just satisfaction, accounts for more than 43% of all judgments awaiting execution, and has legislated to block enforcement at home. Around 5,700 applications against Russia remain pending.

The report sets out two routes forward: using frozen and immobilised Russian State assets to pay the compensation the Court has awarded, and targeted sanctions against individuals named by the Court as responsible for serious violations. It also addresses the obstacles — State immunity, the competing claims on those assets, and the burden on victims of litigating abroad.

Our work fed directly into this debate. The report records that the Sub-Committee on the implementation of judgments benefitted from a presentation by Professor Veronika Fikfak in Tirana on 5 July 2024, and cites her expert remarks to the CAHDI debate on compensation under international law and the enforcement of payments awarded by international human rights courts (11 April 2024) among the key contributions shaping the proposals now adopted.