30/10/2026 | President
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Petra Bayr, and PACE’s General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, Gala Veldhoen (Netherlands, SOC), have made the following statement: “We are appalled by reports that Najmeh Amini, a 23-year-old Iranian...
29/10/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On the occasion of the International Day of Political Prisoners (30 October), PACE’s General Rapporteur on Political Prisoners, Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC), and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on Political Prisoners, Steve Cohen (United States of America), made the...
12/10/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Tekke Panman (Netherlands, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur for “Threats to the International Criminal Court’, made the following statement today: “I am deeply disappointed by the US administration’s announcement on Friday 9 October that it would impose institutional sanctions against the International...
09/10/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On the eve of the 24th World Day Against the Death Penalty (10 October), PACE General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty Gala Veldhoen (Netherlands, SOC) made the following statement: “Last week, the failed execution by lethal injection of Christa Pike in the US shocked and moved...
30/09/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The wife and lawyer of jailed Turkish businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala were among those to address a public hearing at PACE on recent developments in his case, which took place this afternoon on the margins of the Assembly's autumn session in Strasbourg. Mr Kavala has been in prison in...
11/09/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Committee on Legal Affairs, meeting on 9 September in Paris, expressed its concern regarding attempts “to threaten and intimidate international judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC)”, by subjecting them to coercive measures for undertaking their functions as part of...
09/09/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Members of the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the investigative journalist assassinated in Malta nine years ago, have denounced the “complete failure” to convict anyone for ordering her assassination following the acquittal by a Maltese jury last week of Yorgen Fenech, a Maltese businessman...
09/09/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights made the following statement today on the glorification of Ratko Mladić: "The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Ratko Mladić of genocide resulting in the massacre of between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosniak men...
09/09/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Russian state assets should be repurposed to pay Ukraine potentially “billions of euros” in compensation after two rulings against Russia by the European Court of Human Rights, according to a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In two inter-state cases brought...
09/09/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The General Rapporteur for political prisoners of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC), made the following statement today: “Yesterday, a court in Baku sentenced Anar Mammadli, a prominent human rights defender, election expert and laureate of...
03/09/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti (United Kingdom, SOC), who is preparing a report for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Justice delayed: the unfinished implementation of the Daphne Caruana Galizia case, made the following statement today: “It is deeply shocking that, almost...
25/08/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Sergiy Vlasenko (Ukraine, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur for the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, made the following statement today: “Turkish human rights defender and philanthropist Osman Kavala has been detained in Türkiye since 18 October 2017. In December 2019...