Friday, January 25, 2008 | AFP

Turkey and Russia were easily the worst offenders in a league table of the European Court of Human Rights judgments for 2007, released Wednesday by the European 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 ranked a clear second with 175 violations, followed by Ukraine with 108 and Poland with 101.

The majority of Russian complaints concerned war-torn Chechnya.

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

The growth of litigation, as well as European Union enlargement, has seen the number of complaints filed increase dramatically since the European 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 is "a sharply reduced figure" from the previous year due to "the desire of judges to concentrate on [only] the most complex cases," said Costa.

Some 36 of France's 39 violations concerned the approach of that country's judiciary, according to the table.

To file a complaint to the court, an individual or organization must have exhausted all national appeals procedures including supreme or constitutional courts, its Web site said.

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 put into effect in September 1953.

There are more participant states than the EU's current 27 members.