The Council of Europe suspended the legal representation of Russia. What does it mean?
- Anna Pushkarskaya
- BBC, St. Petersburg
The Council of Europe has suspended legal representation in Germany. Such a decision of the committee of the Council of Europe was taken for the first time in the history of the organization. What does this mean and what will happen with Russia’s participation in the ECtHR?
The Committee of the Council of Europe (CMSE) has suspended the right of representation in Russia in PACE and CMSE – in connection with serious violations of Article 3 of the organization’s charter – it obliges it to “recognize the principles of supreme rights” and cover all areas, be directed under its jurisdiction, cover human rights and fundamental freedom.
Solution amulet into force immediately due to Russia’s armed attack on Ukraine, according to a CoE press release.
Russia remains a member of the Council of Europe?
Russia remains a member of the Council of Europe and is a member of the Council of Europe conventions, including the European Convention on Human Rights.
The judge elected to the European Court of Human Rights from Russia also remains the court and complaints filed against Russia will continue to be prosecuted.
The suspension is not a final measure, but a temporary one, leaving communication channels, assured the CE.
This means that Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe has not been suspended, Yury Berestnev, editor-in-chief of the ECtHR Information and Analytical Bulletin, told the BBC.
The Russian ambassador will not sit in the committee of the CE meeting, and the Russian delegation will not sit at PACE, the expert explained. Everything else, including the work of the ECHR and participation in the development of documents, is not covered by the CE decision, he added.
The term for such a suspension has not been chosen, this is clearly an interim solution, expected for the rapid development of events within a few days or weeks, Berestnev believes.
“The Council of Europe could not fail to react, but the suspension was the maximum it could go for, so as not to cut off all relations, but to preserve the possibility of dialogue and return to interaction and communication, taking into account, among other things, the possibility of Zelensky’s treatment of Putin,” he said. expert.
However, the issue of Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe in limbo is unacceptable to the committee – neither Russia nor its coverage, added Berestnev.
What’s next?
For now, it’s just a pause. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe must notify Russia of the legal and financial consequences of the suspension of its representation in the bodies of the organization. There are no documents regulating these consequences – they will be necessary for specific situations.
In particular, Russia may, in response, raise the issue of a partial return of remuneration to Russia, as it already happened after the suspension of the rights to vote of Russia’s representatives in PACE.
“The decision allows you to make a difference with Russia, how to continue to live – together or separately, and if you get a divorce – then how,” Berestov said.
A variant is possible when Russia does not agree to withdraw from the Council of Europe – then the government committee can start the procedures for its expulsion. Or Russia itself decides to withdraw from the Council of Europe without waiting for an offer. In the event of the consequences of consideration, the problems are not disclosed at all, and the divorce process may be delayed, he believes.
Previously, Greece did this during the period of power of the “black colonels”, when it wanted to accept the Council of Europe. Greece is back in the Council of Europe.
On the statutory committee of the committee, a decision of the Council of Europe can be proposed, and this possibility remains. The conditions for such a proposal are provided for in Article 7 of the statute, which reveals and brings closer the appearance of members of the state.
Her participation in the defense of human rights will end no earlier than January 1, 2023.
If the “divorce” begins at the end of 2022, then the withdrawal from the Council of Europe will automatically be postponed for another year – until January 1, 2024.
At the same time, the ECHR can accept complaints against Russia within six months after the “divorce”, after which the ECHR will indefinitely pick up all the expected complaints (there are already about 15 thousand of them), says Berestnev. Russia, if possible, will follow all the procedures after its withdrawal from the decision of the Council of Europe by the ECtHR.