Russia withdraws from anti-torture convention
The Kremlin has decided to withdraw from another Council of Europe convention (Illustrative photo: Getty Images)
Russia has begun the process of exiting the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The announcement comes from a decree by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, according to the government website and The Moscow Times.
The document proposes that Russian President Vladimir Putin denounce another convention Russia had joined as a member of the Council of Europe.
The decree states: “Approve and submit to the President of the Russian Federation for presentation to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation a proposal for Russia to denounce the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, dated November 26, 1987, and its protocols of November 4, 1993, signed on behalf of the Russian Federation in Strasbourg on February 28, 1996.”
What the convention entails
The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture was adopted on November 26, 1987. Russia signed it on February 28, 1996, and ratified it on March 28, 1998.
The treaty prohibits torture and obliges states to prevent it. To oversee compliance, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) was established - an independent international body authorized to conduct inspections in prisons, correctional facilities, pretrial detention centers, psychiatric institutions, and other places of confinement.
These visits aim to identify violations and provide recommendations to improve detention conditions.
Member states are required to cooperate with the committee and grant unrestricted access to all detention facilities. After each visit, the CPT prepares a report, which is sent to the country in question along with requests for responses to the issues raised.
On March 16, 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country was expelled from the Council of Europe, where it had been a member for 26 years. Since then, Russia has remained a formal participant in the anti-torture convention only in name.
The CPT reported that Russian authorities did not respond to requests for cooperation. This included not only monitoring visits to detention facilities but also providing information on troubling incidents, such as the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the Polar Wolf high-security colony in February 2024.
In February 2023, Russia withdrew from a number of key human rights treaties.
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Theodoros Rousopoulos said it is too early to discuss Russia’s return to membership.
In May, the Council of Europe endorsed the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine.
