Human rights in Russia: 'A cascade of rulings'

On April 1 2004, armed men in camouflage suits knocked on Anzor Sambiyev’s door. The Chechen boy was kidnapped from his house and one day later found dead –the traces on his body silent witnesses of a violent death. As the Russian authorities didn’t react, Anzor’s parents filed a complaint before the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg. At the beginning of this year, the Russian federation was convicted by this court: Anzor’s parents are to be paid a compensation of 40.000 Euro. Russia –which can still appeal– was found guilty of the violation of article 2 of the 1950 Convention of Human Rights, the ‘right to life’.
Since Russia signed the Convention in 1998 –an obligation for any member of the Council of Europe– the ECtHR has already  received 320 individual complaints by Chechen civilians. In the 80 judgements that have been handed down since, Russia was found guilty of the use of lethal violence, extrajudicial execution, illegal detention, torture and abuse, disappearance, destruction of private property and restriction on the freedom of movement.

‘Incoming mail’

In Strasbourg, the complaints against Russia are piling up. In ten years time, more than 55.000 complaints have been filed against Russia, of which 26.000 are still pending. ‘So far, there have been 580 judgements; in the majority of the cases, at least one offence has been found’, ECtHR press attaché Kristina Pencheva comments. ‘Since 2002, Russia is the absolute champion when it comes to newly submitted cases. Last year, one quarter of the “incoming mail” concerned Russian cases.’
Every civilian of one of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe who thinks his human rights have been breached, has the right to file a written complaint before the court in Strasbourg. Russia points out that when you consider the number of cases under investigation per capita, the country –with its 140 million inhabitants– does not come first but only sixteenth in the list of 47. Following this reasoning, Russia would be preceded by countries like Slovenia, Moldavia, Romania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Turkey.
‘The vast size of the country and its massive population account only partly for the fact that so many complaints are being filed against Russia. But for sure they are not the only reason’, Tanya Lokshina of the Moscow department of Human Rights Watch comments. ‘The Russian legal system is not functioning properly. It is not able to protect the rights of the Russian civilians. They have no other choice than turn to Strasbourg.’ According to Lokshina, the ECtHR is the ‘most efficient international mechanism for the protection of human rights in Russia. It results in a cascade of rulings. Every month there are new verdicts.’

Executions of judgements

According to Human Rights Watch, one of the problems of Russian justice is that the rulings of Russian courts are not always being implemented by the Russian government. Lokshina gives the example of an old woman who successfully took legal action against the Russian state to receive a pension increase of 20 percent. Lokshina: ‘Although the Russian court granted her the increase, the government did not take action and her pension stayed as low as before.’
When the ECtHR hands down a judgement, the convicted nation is obliged to execute it. The Council of Europe has to monitor the execution. Lokshina: ‘Russia has very accurately paid the financial compensations ordered by the ECtHR. And that is of important symbolical value. By paying, Russia in a way admits its mistake. But when it comes to preventing human rights violations in the future, Russia still falls short. Yes, in some cases there actually is progress –take the improved situation in Russian prisons or the executions of rulings of Russian courts. But when it comes to cases in which Russian security forces and secret services are involved, there is hardly any improvement.’

victim of its own succes

The European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg may be the ‘most efficient international mechanism’ to enforce human rights, it is also becoming the victim of its own success. The enormous workload –in 2008 at least 100.000 cases were pending– often results in huge delays. In order to improve the procedures of the court, protocol 14 has been drafted. According to the president of the court, Jean-Paul Costa, the implementation of protocol 14 could increase productivity of the court by 25 to 30 percent.
But the problem is that only 46 members of the Council of Europe have signed this protocol 14.  Russia refuses to –Russia is still refusing. It claims that the implementation of protocol 14 will result in a weaker investigation of individual cases and also showed concern about the politicization of the court’s judgements.  Russia claims the court is using “double standards”, and refers to the case of a Russian family that wanted to stay in Lithuania but lost its case in Strasbourg.
According to Human Rights Watch however, Russia does not want to ratify protocol 14 because it would not want the court to become more effective. Lokshina: ‘Due to Russia’s resistance, the court cannot implement reforms. The EU member states are now exercising pressure on Russia to do ratify the additional protocol.’