Yesterday’s decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the Yukos case bears far-reaching consequences for human rights protection in Russia and elsewhere in Europe.
Preventing the implementation of a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights weakens the safeguards for individuals and companies against possible State abuses. It also threatens the very integrity and legitimacy of the system of the European Convention on Human Rights, because it sends the signal that the standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law a State subscribes to when joining the Council of Europe can be disregarded at will. I therefore urge the Russian Government and Parliament to change the Federal law which gives the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation the power to prevent the implementation of judgments of the Strasbourg Court.