Janowiec and Others v. Russia

Janowiec and Others v. Russia (also sometimes known as the Katyn case)[1] was a case brought between the European Court of Human Rights in 2007 and concluded in 2013 concerning the issue of human right violations in the context of the Katyn massacre.[2][3][4]

Background

In 1940 Stalin ordered the execution of over 20,000 Polish prisoners of war in what became known as the Katyn massacre, a crime that the Soviet Union denied until 1990. The case concerned whether Russia violated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by discontinuing the investigation and classifying some documents, including about the reasons for the case being closed, in 2004.[5][6] The case was brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by a number of families of the victims that unsuccessfully demanded access to the classified documents.[5] The case has been described as about the right to know the fate of the family members and the right to obtain a thorough investigation into the related crime.[5]

Verdict

The case received a ruling by the ECtHR Chamber in 2012 and by its Grand Chamber in 2013.[7] The Chamber rejected all but one of the claims of the applications (reformatio in peius), who referred the case to the Grand Chamber, which in turn concluded that it has "no competence" in the area, as the massacre occurred in 1940, before the ECHR was adopted over a decade later in 1953 and that Russia ratified only in 1998.[5][6] It did however criticize Russia for failing to provide evidence and satisfactory rationale for classification of the documents.[6][8][9]

Four justices dissented, stating that "a failure to prosecute war crimes that would 'turn the applicants' long history of justice delayed into a permanent case of justice denied'"[8][10][11] and that it makes ECtHR a failure as the "conscience" court of Europe it was intended to be.[12][13]

Analysis

The final verdict has been criticized by a number of scholars. Gabriella Citroni called it a "denial of justice";[7] and Yaroslav Kozheurov noted it shows the court's "unwillingness to deal in detail with the black pages of Europe's past".[14] Susana Sanz-Caballero noted that the ECtHR "interpreted its own competence in a very restrictive manner", ignoring other options it had.[5] Julia Koch noted that such options included the international customary law, and described the court's refusal to consider "unfortunate", resulting in the court failing to "protect the rights of the prisoners and their relatives" and holding "Russia accountable for its gross violation of human rights".[15] William Schabas concluded that the limited temporal view of ECHR as applicable only to events that took place after it was drafted in 1950 "is questionable, [...] the reasoning behind it is dubious, and [...] the result is a regrettable confirmation of a situation of impunity".[16]

Susana Sanz-Caballero noted that the case caused "astonishment [and] outrage" in Poland.[5]

See also

References
  1. Bogush, Gleb (2016-07-29). "Russia and International Criminal Law". Baltic Yearbook of International Law Online. 15 (1): 169–180. doi:10.1163/22115897-90000064b. ISSN 2211-5897.
  2. Kaminski, Ireneusz (2013-07-25). "Amicus Curiae Briefs in Janowiec and Others v. Russia". Polish Yearbook of International Law. Rochester, NY. 32: 325–400. SSRN 2500791.
  3. Jopek-Bosiacka, Anna (2016-01-01). "The Katyń court case: Stories about history, politics, and words". Journal of Argumentation in Context. 5 (3): 271–314. doi:10.1075/jaic.5.3.03jop. ISSN 2211-4742.
  4. Kaminski, Ireneusz C. (2013). "The Katyń Massacre before the European Court of Human Rights: A Personal Account". Polish Yearbook of International Law (33): 205–226. ISSN 0554-498X.
  5. Sanz-Caballero, Susana (2013). "How Could It Go So Wrong? Reformatio in Peius before the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR in the Case Janowiec and Others v. Russia". Polish Yearbook of International Law (33): 259–278. ISSN 0554-498X.
  6. Reuters Staff (2013-10-21). "Poland disappointed with European ruling over the 1940 Katyn massacre". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
  7. Citroni, Gabriella (2014-07-28). "Janowiec and Others v. Russia: A Long History of Justice Delayed Turned into a Permanent Case of Justice Denied". Polish Yearbook of International Law. Rochester, NY. 33. SSRN 2473117.
  8. Dolgov, Anna (2013-10-21). "Katyn Massacre Case Thrown Out by Human Rights Court". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
  9. "Europe court criticises Russia over Katyn massacre inquiry". BBC News. 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
  10. Citroni, Gabriella (2013). "Janowiec and Others v. Russia: A Long History of Justice Delayed Turned into a Permanent Case of Justice Denied". Polish Yearbook of International Law (33): 279–294. ISSN 0554-498X.
  11. Kamiński, Ireneusz C. (2015-11-01). "The Katyń Massacres before the European Court of Human Rights: From Justice Delayed to Justice Permanently Denied". East European Politics and Societies. 29 (4): 784–810. doi:10.1177/0888325415595076. ISSN 0888-3254. S2CID 147871908.
  12. Berber Bevernage; Nico Wouters (3 February 2018). The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History After 1945. Springer. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-1-349-95306-6.
  13. Nanci Adler (22 June 2018). Understanding the Age of Transitional Justice: Crimes, Courts, Commissions, and Chronicling. Rutgers University Press. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-8135-9778-2.
  14. Kozheurov, Yaroslav (2013). "The Case of Janowiec and Others v. Russia: Relinquishment of Jurisdiction in Favour of the Court of History". Polish Yearbook of International Law (33): 227–246. ISSN 0554-498X.
  15. Koch, Julia (2015-04-14). "The Difficulty of Temporal Jurisdiction in Janowiec and Others v. Russia". Boston College International and Comparative Law Review. 38 (3): E. Supp. 43.
  16. Schabas, William (2013). "Do the "Underlying Values" of the European Convention on Human Rights Begin in 1950?". Polish Yearbook of International Law (33): 247–258. ISSN 0554-498X.
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