Putin withdraws Russia from European anti-torture convention
Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russia is officially withdrawing from the European anti-torture convention. The relevant document was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Guardian reports.
According to reports, the Russian ruler signed a law denouncing the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Earlier, the Russian parliament approved the withdrawal from the agreement, which Moscow had ratified back in 1998.
The Kremlin justifies the move by claiming it is a response to the Council of Europe’s refusal to include a Russian representative on the committee that monitors compliance with the convention.
As a result, following the denunciation, Russia is no longer obliged to allow international inspectors into its prisons. Complaints from Russian prisoners to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture will also no longer be considered.
What is known about the anti-torture convention
The European Convention on the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1987.
The document obliges member countries to:
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Prevent torture and inhuman treatment in places of detention;
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Ensure independent international monitoring of compliance with these standards;
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Allow inspectors from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) access to prisons, colonies, and other detention facilities.
The convention operates alongside the European Convention on Human Rights and is considered one of the key tools for protecting human rights in Europe.
Russia joined the convention in 1998, but after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was expelled from the Council of Europe, of which it had been a member for 26 years. Since then, the country has remained a participant in the anti-torture convention only formally.
In August, RBC-Ukraine reported that Russia officially planned to withdraw from the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture.
At that time, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the Kremlin’s move as a de facto acknowledgment of the crime — the systematic practice of torture — and an attempt to evade responsibility for gross human rights violations.
