Russia has announced its withdrawal from the European Convention against Torture

• Russia has begun the process of withdrawing from the European Convention against Torture.
• According to the decree, the president must denounce the convention.
• Russia has remained a formal participant in the convention only on paper.

This is reported by RBC Ukraine, Meduza.

The Russian government has started the process of withdrawing from the European Convention against Torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. This became known from a decree by the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin, published on the official government website and in The Moscow Times.

The document states that the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, must denounce the convention, to which Russia was previously a member of the Council of Europe.

The decree specifies: "To approve and submit to the President of the Russian Federation a proposal for the denunciation of the European Convention against Torture, signed on November 26, 1987, and its protocol signed on November 4, 1993, signed by representatives of the Russian Federation in Strasbourg on February 28, 1996."

What the convention provides

The European Convention against Torture was adopted on November 26, 1987. Russia signed it on February 28, 1996, and ratified it on March 28, 1998.

This treaty prohibits torture and obliges states to prevent it. For control over its implementation, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) was created, an independent international body authorized to conduct inspections in places of deprivation of liberty.

Members of the convention are obliged to cooperate with the committee and grant it unrestricted access to all establishments of deprivation of liberty. After each visit, the CPT prepares a report, which is sent to the countries with recommendations for addressing the issues raised.

On March 16, 2022, following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia was excluded from the Council of Europe, where it had been a member for 26 years. Since then, Russia has remained a formal participant in the convention only on paper.

The CPT reported that the Russian authorities did not respond to requests for cooperation, including regarding monitoring visits to places of deprivation of liberty, nor did they provide information on tragic incidents, such as the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the colony "Polar Wolf" in the summer of 2024.

In the summer of 2023, Russia withdrew from a number of key international treaties in the field of human rights.

The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, stated that it is too early to discuss Russia's return to membership.

In April, the Council of Europe supported the creation of a special tribunal for holding Russia accountable for the aggression against Ukraine.

Tags: Russia/Europe/Politics