Important decree of the Constitutional Court

Unconditional implementation of ECHR decisions called into question

The Constitutional Court of Russia has published its decree № 21-П, which has been delivered two days earlier. In this decree the Court gave an answer to the petition of members of Parliament as regards the duty to implement those decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which are found to be contradictory to the Russian Constitution.

 

The Court came to the conclusion that such decisions should not be implemented in the territory of Russia. The relevant authorities that are expected to implement the decisions of the ECHR must in such cases apply to the Constitutional Court which shall pronounce the final verdict as regards the compatibility of the decisions in question with the Russian Constitution. It also follows from the decree that the decisions of the ECHR may be left without implementation if the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights which was expressed therein does not conform to the purpose and object of this convention.

 

It appears that this holding gives the national authorities (the Constitutional Court in the first place) a virtually unlimited discretion with regard to the destiny of the ECHR decisions in the territory of Russia. At the same time, the decree of the Constitutional Court attempts to assure that the refusal to implement shall take place in very rare instances, and invites the Strasbourg Court to dialogue. 

 

The decree of the Constitutional Court can be found here.