Russia refuses to pay compensation awarded by ECHR to Russians
The Prosecutor General’s Office refused to pay compensation awarded by the ECHR to Russians
According to European Court of Human Rights calculations, Russia owes approximately 74 million euros in compensation.
10.08.2022
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation refused to comply with the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) ruling to pay 64,000 euros to Sergei Drozdov, whose brother died ten years ago due to police torture at the Kazan Ministry of Internal Affairs. Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora International Human Rights Group, announced their noncompliance on his Telegram channel. The rationale behind the refusal was that the decision of the ECHR came into force after March 15.
The reasoning refers to a law adopted in June this year, according to which judgments from the ECHR that entered into force after March 15 2022 are not subject to enforcement. The Office of the Prosecutor General can make payments ordered by judgments handed down before that date until January 1 2023. According to the ECHR, Russia already owes its citizens about 74 million euros in compensation.
Tatyana Glushkova, a lawyer for Memorial, The Centre to Defend Human Rights — established to replace the Memorial Human Rights Centre, which was recently recognized as a foreign agent and liquidated by court order — said that her colleagues have received similar refusals from the Prosecutor General’s Office, and intend to complain to the Constitutional Court. According to Glushkova, the path to the Constitutional Court will take at least a year: first they face district and city courts, and then the Supreme Court.
On March 16, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to terminate Russia’s membership in the body. In May, a group of senators and deputies submitted a bill to the State Duma arguing that ECHR judgments issued after March 16 2022 should not be enforced in Russia. As of February 28, 18,000 complaints from Russia were pending examination by the ECHR.
Translated by Spencer Michaels
