2.2.6 Duty to grant redress and compensate victims In Assanidze v Georgia,340 the Court reiterated the scope of the State’s obligation to ensure adequate redress and compensation for victims of ill-treatment: The European Regional System 2 “A judgment in which it finds a breach imposes on the respondent State a legal obligation under [Article 46 of the ECHR] to put an end to the breach and to make reparation for its consequences in such a way as to restore as far as possible the situation existing before the breach. If, on the other hand, national law does not allow – or allows only partial – reparation to be made for the consequences of the breach, Article 41 empowers the Court to afford the injured party such satisfaction as appears to it to be appropriate. It follows, inter alia, that a judgment in which the Court finds a violation of the Convention or its Protocols imposes on the respondent State a legal obligation not just to pay those concerned the sums awarded by way of just satisfaction, but also to choose, subject to supervision by the Committee of Ministers, the general and/or, if appropriate, individual measures to be adopted in its domestic legal order to put an end to the violation found by the Court and make all feasible reparation for its consequences in such a way as to restore as far as possible the situation existing before the breach.”341 The right to compensation therefore goes beyond monetary compensation, and may even require legislative changes at the domestic level in States Parties to the Convention. 2.3 Scope of Application As outlined in section 2.1, an expansive jurisprudence has emerged from the European Court and Commission of Human Rights defining the prohibited acts. However, recent developments in the jurisprudence relating to Article 3 have focused not so much upon the definitions of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, which are now well established, but rather upon the scope of application of Article 3 and, consequently, the extent of States Parties’ obligations. 2.3.1 The absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment Article 15 of the ECHR provides that the State may never derogate from its obligations under Article 3, even in times of “war or other public emergency 72 Assanidze v Georgia, no. 71503/01, ECHR 2004-II, judgement of 8 April 2004. Ibid. §198. 340 341

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