RESOLUCIÓN DEL COMITÉ DE MINISTROS QUE EXCLUYE A RUSIA DEL CONSEJO DE EUROPA Y DEL TEDH (16/03/2022)

#RESOLUCIÓN DEL COMITÉ DE MINISTROS QUE #EXCLUYE A RUSIA DEL #CONSEJO DE #EUROPAhttps://t.co/Jmsjq19u47

Resolution CM/Res(2022)2 on the
cessation of the membership of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 16 March 2022)

— Guillermo Ruiz Zapatero (@ruiz_zapatero) March 18, 2022

As a direct consequence of its war of aggression in Ukraine, Russia ceased to be a member of the Council of Europe (CoE), with effect from 16 March, as confirmed by a resolution of the Committee of Ministers (CM). This represents uncharted territory – until now, no state had ever been expelled from the organisation, and the only instance of state withdrawal was carried out by a military junta in Greece in 1969 (before it could be expelled). However, there was much uncertainty in the days leading up to the CM resolution. The CoE statute prescribes two routes for a state’s departure: withdrawal (Article 7) and expulsion (Article 8). On 25 February, the CM had taken the decision to suspend Russia from its rights of representation in the CM and in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) with immediate effect (under Article 8 of the Statute), but the Ministers’ Deputies took pains to clarify that Russia was still subject to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its additional obligations. A statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 10 March suggested that withdrawal was likely: ‘Russia will not participate in the transformation by NATO and the EU obediently following them of the oldest European organisation into another platform for incantations about Western superiority and narcissism. Let them enjoy communicating with each other, without Russia’. This led some media organisations to announce Russia’s departure from the CoE, in a bid to avoid being kicked out. However, that was not yet the case. Also on 10 March, the Ministers’ Deputies decided to consult PACE about further steps to be taken under Article 8. At an extraordinary plenary session on 14 and 15 March, PACE described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a ‘serious breach’ of Article 3 of the CoE Statute, which was contrary to ‘the obligations and commitments which the Russian Federation undertook upon accession’. As a result, it adopted an opinion to the effect that the CM should request the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw from the CoE, and that if Russia did not do so, the CM should decide ‘the immediate possible date’ when Russia would cease to be a CoE member. Also on 15 March, the Russian Government purportedly informed the CoE Secretary General of its withdrawal from the CoE and of its intention to denounce the ECHR (under Article 58). On the following day, the CM passed a resolution which noted Russia’s withdrawal and which decided, ‘in the context of the procedure launched under Article 8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as from 16 March 2022’. This post focus on some of the consequences for potential applicants to the European Court (whose immediate response on 16 March was to suspend its examination of all Russian cases). However, it would appear that ECHR violations allegedly committed by Russia which take place after 16 March 2022 cannot be challenged at the European Court. This is nothing short of a tragedy, given victims’ loss of ECHR protection. Róisín Pillay of the International Commission of Jurists has said: ‘Nowhere has the ECtHR been more of a lifeline than in Russia. Victims of the most brutal human rights violations, failed by their national systems, found some hope of vindication there’. Karinna Moskalenko, a Russian lawyer and one of the founders of the CURE campaign (Campaign to Uphold Rights in Europe), has suggested that the inability to petition the European Court is ‘a punishment for ordinary people, not for the government’. This was also the view of leading Russian human rights defenders, discussing the risk of Russia’s expulsion or withdrawal from the CoE back in 2018: ‘Those who wish to punish the Kremlin miss the target: it is not the Russian government, but the Russian public who would suffer the most. For millions of people residing in Russia … the ECtHR has been an ultimate hope for justice, which in many cases they cannot find in Russia. Thousands of its judgments have had a significant positive impact on Russian laws and judicial practice’.