The number of new cases brought against Cyprus before the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers tripled in 2025, according to the body's 19th Annual Report on the supervision of the execution of European Court of Human Rights judgments. The Committee received 12 new cases against Cyprus for supervision of their execution last year, compared with five in 2024 and four in 2023.
The overall caseload also grew sharply. On 31 December 2025, there were 19 cases pending execution against Cyprus, up from nine in 2024 and 13 in 2023. Of those, four were leading cases classified under the Committee's more serious enhanced procedure, compared with just one in both 2024 and 2023, while eight were leading cases under the standard procedure. One leading case under enhanced procedure has been pending for five years or more, as have two leading cases under standard procedure, a pattern that has held since 2023.
Among the new violations the court found against Cyprus in 2025, one concerned shortcomings in the investigation into an alleged gang rape, a probe the court found had been accompanied by prejudicial gender stereotypes and victim-blaming attitudes. Another concerned the collective expulsion of applicants who had arrived in Cyprus by sea, and the lack of an effective remedy through which they could challenge that expulsion.
During the year, the Committee of Ministers adopted decisions in two cases under enhanced procedure. In the Danilczuk case, concerning poor conditions of detention, ministers issued their most recent decision in 2025. In the Altius Insurance Ltd case, concerning the length of civil proceedings and the lack of an effective remedy, ministers likewise issued their latest decision during the year. The pending caseload also includes a case on conditions of detention pending deportation, along with a group of cases concerning the lawfulness of detaining asylum seekers on national security grounds and the protracted nature of the domestic review proceedings that follow.
Cyprus authorities submitted seven action plans, two action reports and six communications to the Committee over the course of 2025, and full payment of compensation awarded by the court was registered in ten cases. The Committee closed two cases during the year, including one leading case under standard supervision concerning the failure to carry out an effective investigation into the death of an applicant's relative and to keep the family informed of its progress. That case was closed after a new domestic investigation was reopened under a different unit, with the applicants and their representatives kept informed of all major developments and the final decision.
Cyprus v. Turkey
The report also tracked continued movement, or lack thereof, in Cyprus's longest-running dispute with Strasbourg: the interstate case of Cyprus v. Turkey. The Committee of Ministers examined the case twice in 2025, addressing both the property rights of displaced persons and the question of missing persons, with its most recent decisions on each strand issued during the year. The case concerns 14 violations linked to the situation in the northern part of Cyprus.
Alongside it, the Committee also examined the Varnava and Others case, concerning the lack of an effective investigation into the fate of nine Greek Cypriots who disappeared during the military operations carried out by Turkey in Cyprus in 1974, issuing its latest decision in 2025. The Xenides-Arestis group of cases, concerning the continuous denial of access to property in the north, including both individual measures and just satisfaction, was also examined once during the year.
The Committee of Ministers is the Council of Europe body responsible for overseeing whether member states comply with European Court of Human Rights judgments once they become final. Full details of Cyprus's outstanding cases and achievements are set out in a dedicated country factsheet accompanying the report.
You may read the full report below:
