Russia to quit European anti-torture pact
Russia's government has formally proposed to President Vladimir Putin that the country withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, a document signed by the country in 1996.
The draft resolution signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was published on Monday, 25 August, on an official government website for legal acts, according to DW.
The document proposes not only the denunciation of the convention but also its additional protocols ratified by Russia. The reasons for this initiative are not specified in the government's resolution.
The Convention, which is a Council of Europe body, establishes the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). The Committee has the right to visit signatory states without restrictions, including prisons and other places of detention, to assess conditions.
Over the years, the CPT has published several reports critical of Moscow, documenting instances of torture and inhumane treatment in Chechnya, psychiatric hospitals, and prisons across the Russian Federation.
The Committee's latest report was published in November 2024 and included references to the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in the "Polar Wolf" penal colony (IK-3), after he repeatedly complained of conditions he equated to torture. At the same time, the CPT also drew attention to reports of the torture of suspects involved in the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack.
The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations, calling them "politicised and biased," and accused the Council of Europe of "blackmail." Moscow also stated that Russia has not had representatives in the CPT since 2023 but denied a direct link to the country's withdrawal from the Council of Europe in March 2022, following the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia abandons international human rights treaties
In recent years, the Kremlin has withdrawn from a series of international treaties on the protection of fundamental rights. In February 2023, the State Duma adopted a law to end Russia’s application of 21 Council of Europe conventions, including the European Convention on Human Rights.
Subsequently, in September 2023, Vladimir Putin sent a draft law to parliament to denounce the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, citing Russia's inability to participate in the decisions of the responsible committee and to use the mechanism to monitor the situation of Russian-speaking communities abroad.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
