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Russia ratifies Europe rights court reform protocol

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Russian State Duma on Thursday passed a resolution to ratify Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, making the Russian Federation the last Council of Europe (COE) member-state to ratify the provision. The ratification passed with 392 votes out of 450. COE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland called the move "a significant decision by the State Duma, will be of importance for the whole of Europe. ... By joining the other 46 member states, Russia is sending a strong signal of its commitment to Europe." Protocol 14 envisages reforms to increase efficiency of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), such as filtering out inadmissible and repetitive cases. Admissibility will be determined by a single judge, but most cases will still be ruled on by three-judge panel. Russia was initially opposed to ratifying the protocol, which it claimed was politically motivated. In June, the COE harshly criticized Russia's judicial system and called for reform. In recent years, Russia has had the largest number of cases pending in the ECHR out of any COE member-state. In 2009, Russia had 32,600 cases pending, followed next by Turkey, which had 12,800 cases pending, and in 2008 Russia had 27,250 cases pending, followed next by Turkey, which had 11,100 cases pending. In 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed that Russian courts become more transparent in order to restore faith in the justice system and prevent people from turning to the ECHR.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 15, 2010 (boomark / email).