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Russia court rules civil cases tried in Europe rights court must be reconsidered

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

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation ruled Friday that Russian courts must reconsider civil cases decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), ordering legislative amendments. The rule previously applied only to criminal and arbitration cases. The decision stems from a complaint brought by three Russian citizens who won legal battles in the ECHR, only to find that Russian courts would not rehear their cases. The courts had cited Article 392 of Russia's Civil Procedure Code, which does not explicitly enumerate cases tried by the ECHR among cases that can be retried. The Russian Federation has been working to reform its relations with the EHCR. Last month, the Russian Federation Council voted to ratify Protocol 14 to reform the European Convention on Human Rights. In June, the Council of Europe (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 February 26, 2010 (boomark / email).