Federation Council votes for bills allowing Russia not to fulfill ECHR judgments handed down after March 15, 2022
MOSCOW. June 8 (Interfax) - The Federation Council has voted for bills which set the deadline for Russia's fulfillment of European Council of Human Rights (ECHR) judgments at a meeting on Wednesday.
The bills say that Russia will not fulfill ECHR judgments handed down after March 15, 2022.
One of the bills allows the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to pay the awards granted by ECHR judgments before March 15, 2022, up until January 1, 2023, in order to prevent a vacuum in the execution of orders.
The compensation will be paid exclusively in rubles, to accounts opened in Russian banks.
Also, amendments are being made to Russian procedural laws in regard to a review of Russian court orders based on ECHR judgments. "ECHR judgments will stop being a reason for a review of Russian court rulings," Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov said earlier.
Another bill cancels provisions of the Russian Criminal Code of Procedure, which defines ECHR judgments as a reason for cancelling rulings upon taking effect, and for resuming criminal inquiries due to new or newly discovered circumstances.
Meanwhile, it is planned to create an additional compensatory mechanism in criminal trials conducted by Russian courts: the range of reasons for cancelling court orders upon taking effect and the resumption of criminal inquiries due to new or newly discovered circumstances will be broadened, Krasheninnikov said.
Russia began its withdrawal from the Council of Europe on March 15. Also on that day, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution to expel Russia from the organization consistent with Article 8 of the Council of Europe Statutes (a flagrant violation of the Statutes). It used a coercive mechanism to unilaterally terminate Russia's membership in the organization.
"Therefore, this community of countries cannot demand that Russia comply with the documents that belong to the law of the Council of Europe," Krasheninnikov said.