Putin allows Russia to ignore international human rights law

Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing the Constitutional Court of Russia to decide whether or not to comply with judgements made by international human rights courts.

The law, published by the government on Tuesday, enables Russia’s high court to overthrow decisions made by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The bill was officially adopted by Russia’s parliament last Wednesday; now signed by Putin the bill permits the court to review rulings of international human rights bodies and pronounce them “non-executable” if the court deems they contradict Russian constitution.

The bill was drafted in response to a decision by the Constitutional Court in July stating judgements of the ECHR would not be implemented if they contradicted Russia’s constitution. The decision also stated the Russian constitution would take priority over international law. The ECHR is a key international institution for human rights and receives thousands of cases from Russia every year.

Russia has lost a number of cases in Strasbourg and has been ordered to pay out large compensation in some instances. Legal and political analysts in Russia have suggested the new bill may be aimed at relieving the Kremlin of its obligation to pay out 1.9 billion to Yukos Oil Company shareholders following a 2014 ECHR judgement, according to media.