46
AUAD v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT
However, Mr Chahal’s deportation was blocked, throughout the entire
period under consideration, by the fact that proceedings were being actively
and diligently pursued with a view to determining whether it would be
lawful and compatible with the Convention to proceed with his deportation
(see Chahal, cited above, §§ 115-17, as well as, mutatis mutandis, Eid
v. Italy (dec.), no. 53490/99, 22 January 2002; Gordyeyev, cited above; and
Bogdanovski v. Italy, no. 72177/01, §§ 60-64, 14 December 2006). By
contrast, in the present case the Supreme Administrative Court refused to
give any consideration to the point whether the applicant would be at risk if
returned to Lebanon (see paragraph 23 above). Moreover, under Bulgarian
law the order for the applicant’s expulsion was immediately enforceable at
any time, regardless of whether a legal challenge was pending against it (see
paragraphs 31, 34, 35 and 37 above, as well as Raza, cited above, § 74). The
delay in the present case can thus hardly be regarded as being due to the
need to wait for the Supreme Administrative Court to determine the legal
challenge brought by the applicant against the order for his expulsion.
135. In view of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the grounds for
the applicant’s detention – action taken with a view to his deportation – did
not remain valid for the whole period of his deprivation of liberty due to the
authorities’ failure to conduct the proceedings with due diligence. There has
therefore been a violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention.
V. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 46 OF THE CONVENTION
136. The Court finds it appropriate to consider the present case under
Article 46 of the Convention, which provides, in so far as relevant:
“1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to abide by the final judgment of the
Court in any case to which they are parties.
2. The final judgment of the Court shall be transmitted to the Committee of
Ministers, which shall supervise its execution. ...”
137. In the context of the execution of judgments in accordance with
that provision, 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. Furthermore, it follows from the
Convention, and from Article 1 in particular, that in ratifying the
Convention the Contracting States undertake to ensure that their domestic
legislation is compatible with it (see Maestri v. Italy [GC], no. 39748/98,
§ 47, ECHR 2004-I, and, more recently, Paksas v. Lithuania [GC],
no. 34932/04, § 119, 6 January 2011). The Contracting States’ duty in
international law to comply with the requirements of the Convention may
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