26/01/2021 | Session
Despite progress in the implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments and a constant reduction in the number of judgments pending before the Committee of Ministers – from around 10,000 in 2010 to 5 231 at the end of 2019, thanks to the reform following the 2010 Interlaken conference – PACE remains...
20/01/2021 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Vladimir Vardanyan (Armenia, EPP/CD), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, has condemned the handing down in Belarus of a death sentence on Viktar Skrundzik for the murder of two elderly people and an attempt to...
20/01/2021 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Vladimir Vardanyan (Armenia, EPP/CD), PACE General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, expressed his deep regret at the executions at a federal level in the United States of Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs, respectively on 14 and 16 January. “Whilst I have every sympathy for all...
19/01/2021 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny was the focus of a PACE virtual parliamentary hearing livestreamed today – at which participants were told that Mr Navalny had been tracked by a Russian security service team, which included chemical weapons specialists, prior to his...
15/01/2021 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is to organise a parliamentary hearing by videoconference on the subject of “the poisoning of Alexei Navalny” on Tuesday 19th January 2021, beginning at around 10.30am Central European Time. Participants in the hearing, organised in the...
14/01/2021 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Vladimir Vardanyan (Armenia, EPP/CD), PACE general rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, has expressed his deep regret at Wednesday's execution at a federal level in the United States of Lisa Montgomery. “Whilst I have every sympathy for all those affected by the crime, I am deeply...
21/12/2020 | Monitoring
PACE monitors for Turkey Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden, SOC) and John Howell (United Kingdom, EC/DA) and Alexandra Louis (France, ALDE), PACE rapporteur on Restrictions on NGO activities in Council of Europe member States, expressed their deep concern about possible new restrictions which could be...
08/12/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Malta’s implementation of Assembly recommendations on ensuring justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia and strengthening the rule of law is “unsatisfactory”, the Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee has said, endorsing a follow-up report by its rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD) made...
08/12/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Legal Affairs Committee, meeting by videoconference, today expressed its concern that civil society space was shrinking in several member States, stressing that “restrictive legislation and regulations were still being applied, particularly in Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and Turkey...
08/12/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee has urged authorities in the Republic of Moldova and in Poland to take a series of steps to uphold the rule of law and ensure judicial independence. Approving a report by Andrea Orlando (Italy, SOC), the committee said it was concerned by “the proximity of part of...
09/11/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
National and international efforts aimed at combating money-laundering and terrorist financing have fallen far short of declared objectives. According to the Legal Affairs Committee, these illegal assets amount to more than USD 2 000 billion annually. In the hands of criminals, they represent a...
02/11/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the situation of human rights defenders in Council of Europe member States, Alexandra Louis (France, ALDE), made the following statement on the occasion of the third anniversary of the pre-trial detention of...