CYPRUS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT – PARTLY DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE MARCUS-HELMONS 123 effective local remedies, this amounts to a breach of the minimum standard. This omission itself constitutes an international tort and, in good faith, precludes the tortfeasor from invoking the local remedies rule.” (emphasis added) 6. O. Schachter, International Law in Theory and Practice, M. Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, 1991, p. 213: “Of course the requirement [of exhaustion of local remedies] cannot be imposed where domestic remedies are manifestly ineffective or where they do not exist...”. “But it is not necessary to resort to local courts 'if the result must be a repetition of a decision already given'. An important exception in today's world is that the necessity to resort to local courts does not apply if the courts are completely subservient to the government.” 7. E.J. de Aréchaga and A. Tanzi, “International State Responsibility”, in M. Bedjaoui ed., International Law: Achievements and Prospects, Unesco, Paris, 1991, p. 375: “But even if there are remedies existing and available, the rule does not apply if theses remedies are 'obviously futile' or 'manifestly ineffective'.” 8. J.M. Arbour, Droit international public, 2nd ed., Yvon Blaise, Quebec, 1992, pp. 301-02. 9. J. Combacau and S. Sur, Droit international public, 4th ed., Montchrestien, 1999, p. 547: “[The exhaustion of domestic remedies] does not come into play either when the remedy is 'manifestly ineffective', that is to say when the competent court does not have effective power to make reparation for the damage sustained; and where judicial practice ... excludes all prospects of success on the merits because the courts consider themselves bound by the 'decisions of the executive' or settled case-law suggests that the remedy will fail.” 10. After declaring that remedies before the courts of northern Cyprus constitute domestic remedies for the purposes of former Article 26 of the Convention, the Court states, in paragraph 98 of the judgment, that the question of their effectiveness is to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Then, after analysing each individual case, the Court finds in the judgment that for one reason or another the domestic remedy did not exist or was ineffective. The result might therefore be considered to be identical to what it would have been if former Article 26 had been strictly construed according to “the generally recognised rules of international law”. However, I consider that, although the result is the same, the Court should have avoided reasoning that is potentially perilous, as all the above arguments show. My view is reinforced by the fact that by so acting, the European Court of Human Rights finds itself dangerously caught up in assessing the validity of acts performed by a de facto government at a time when several member States of the Council of Europe have autonomist and even secessionist movements.