Russia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday formally removed the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) from its legal framework.
The move follows Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe and ECHR’s jurisdiction in 2022 after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a ruling made during a plenary session chaired by the newly appointed Justice Igor Krasnov, the Supreme Court declared that a 2013 decree that allowed Russian courts to apply the European Convention on Human Rights was now void.
The court also removed references to the ECHR and its judgments from other legal acts.
The court’s new stance emphasizes Russian domestic law and international instruments to which Russia remains a party. These include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Commonwealth of Independent States Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Lawyers have said the key difference is that instruments like the UN Covenant lack a key enforcement mechanism, offering Russian courts more leeway in rulings.
Russia joined the European Convention on Human Rights in 1988, but was shut out of the Council of Europe, the human rights club of signatory countries which includes the ECHR, in September 2022.
Russian authorities have since not been required to ensure that convention rights are upheld, although the government must still answer for violations committed while it was a signatory.
The ECHR, which is part of the Council of Europe, is tasked with upholding the European Convention on Human Rights across 46 signatory countries.
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