Turkey, Russia worst human rights offenders

(STRASBOURG) - Tukey and Russia were easily the worst offenders in a league table of European Court of Human Rights judgments for 2007, released Wednesday by the court's president.

Some 319 judgments finding at least one violation were issued against Ankara, eight of which concerned "torture" and 23 "inhuman or degrading treatment," according to the court's report.

Moscow was a clear second with 175 violations, followed by Ukraine (108) and Poland (101).

The majority of Russian complaints concerned war-torn Chechnya.

President Jean-Paul Costa said Russia's refusal to ratify a package of measures aimed at filtering off inadmissible complaints, termed Protocol 14, was also hampering case-load reduction.

The growth of litigation, as well as European Union enlargement, has seen the number of complaints filed shoot up dramatically since the court's inception in 1959.

The overall number of complaints filed in 2007 rose by 15 percent to 103,000, of which almost 42,000 were taken up resulting in some 1,500 arrests.

That was "a sharply-reduced figure," said Costa, as against the previous year's tally, due to "the desire of judges to concentrate on (only) the most complex cases".

Thirty-six of France's 39 violations concerned the approach of that country's judiciary, the table also noted.

To file a complaint to the court, an individual or organisation must have exhausted all national appeals procedures including supreme or constitutional courts, its website states.

Judgments are final and binding on states contracted to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, drawn up within the Council of Europe and entered into force in September 1953.

These states go beyond the European Union's current 27 members.