The Constitutional Court on Friday ordered the state to obey decisions by the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights and demanded further legislative action to ensure their smooth implementation.

"Decisions by the European Court of Human Rights are binding for Russia," the court said in a ruling published on its web site.

The judges called upon lawmakers to treat the European court's rulings as a basis for reforming the country's judiciary. They also demanded changes to the Civil Procedural Code, which so far does not force national courts to review cases after a decision from Strasbourg.

"The state must pay compensation to a person whose rights were violated as determined by the European Court and make sure his/her rights are restored as far as it is possible," the judges said.

As a member of the Council of Europe, Russia is obliged to accept the court's rulings, but rights campaigners have criticized Moscow in the past for being slow to respond to its judgments and implement legislative reforms.

Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov acknowledged last year that the court's rulings revealed evident problems in the country's justice system.


Rights groups have also criticized the government for paying damages ordered by the Strasbourg court, without addressing fundamental issues.

The ruling comes weeks after Moscow's decision to finally ratify Protocol 14 of the European Human Rights Convention, a reform that is supposed to make the court more efficient. Strasbourg judges are facing a massive backlog of complaints from individuals, nearly one-third of them filed from Russia.

The State Duma had refused to ratify the document for years, accusing the Strasbourg court of bias and politicized decisions.

The Constitutional Court said Friday that the requirement did not run counter to the Constitution, which does not prevent the revision of Russian court decisions if the Strasbourg court provides new evidence of rights and freedoms violations.

The country still has not ratified Protocol 11, abolishing the death penalty, but the Constitutional Court late last year extended a moratorium on capital punishment.