Since October 2005 the DEMOS Centre has been working together with regional partners on a project entitled “The Implementation of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Russia.”

The main focus of the project is to carry out research into the conditions and processes that lead to the implementation of the European Court’s judgments in Russia. The work of the project includes informing lawyers, human rights activists and journalists about the workings of the European Court, and, in particular, about cases relating to Russia and the implementation in Russia of decisions made by the Court.

The project will be carried out over the next eighteen months.

The project is supported by the Ford Foundation.


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Project Outline

The Russian Federation ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in May 1998 and recognized the legal jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. Citizens of Russia are now able to turn to this international organ if they are unable to find protection of their rights within their own country.

Every year thousands of Russians present their claims to the European Court. By the start of 2006 the Court had passed over 100 judgments regarding Russian cases.

Many of these judgments point to systematic problems in Russian law enforcement policy, and as a result their implantation is of key importance for the development of our legal system. It is important also to note that the judgments of the European Court are binding, as set out in the norms of the Convention. Their implementation therefore plays an important role in Russia’s international prestige.

Upon analysing judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Russian cases and receiving information from representatives of the Russian Federation at the Court it is clear that many of the recent cases relate to issues that have already been looked at by the Court. This attests to an inability to rectify the shortcomings of our legal systems once they have been identified by the Court.

Without effective change Russian law and existing law enforcement policy will not be able to guarantee the protection of the rights and freedoms of its citizens. In addition, without a specific system for the implementation of the Courts decisions the number of Russian cases at the Court will continue to grow, which in turn could reflect badly on the Russian Federation and the effectiveness of the Court itself.

However, more effective implementation of the European Court’s judgments in Russia is not possible without thorough investigation into the decisions that have already been implemented in Russia and lessons that can be drawn from these experiences. It is also necessary to look at the possibilities for, and obstacles preventing, the introduction of the standards of the European Court into Russian law enforcement, legal and legislative practice.

In order to achieve these aims we will closely examine the mechanism for distributing information about the judgments of the European Court throughout Russia, together with the mechanism for interpreting and implementing the Court’s decisions at a law making and law enforcement level. Awareness of the Court’s judgments and the influence of they have on the work of law makers and enforcers will also be investigated.

The research will be carried out both on a federal and regional level. Our regional partners - members of an expert network of human rights organizations - will play a significant role in the research. We will also attract academic, legal and human rights experts to participate in the research.

The results of the research will provide a basis for the development of recommendations aimed at perfecting the system of implementing the Court’s decisions in Russia. The results will also help to compile recommendations on the optimal role of NGOs in this field.

The research component of the project is supplemented by the provision of information about the Court and work to raise awareness of the Court. To do this we publish regular reviews on the discussion of Russian cases in the European Court. It is also planed to publish and distribute other information as well as to carry out public events.


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Participants and Partners


The project is led by the DEMOS Centre and its regional partners. The DEMOS Centre coordinates both the research and informative components of the project. Russian and foreign experts are called in to participate in the project.

The following work at the Moscow office:

Tatyana Lokshina – project leader
Olga Shepeleva – legal expert for the project
Asmik Novikova – sociologist for the project
Mariana Vinsentin – project consultant
Natalya Turina – regional coordinator

Five regional human rights organizations participate in the project on a permanent basis. They are:

The Non Governmental Organization “Sutuajnik”, Yekaterinburg
Anna Demeneva

The Krasnoyarsk Regional Fund for Human Rights, Krasnoyarsk
Anastasia Lukyanenko

The Independent Southern Russian Institute of Social Research, Maikop
Oleg Tzvetkov

The Human Rights Organization “Memorial”, Syktyvkar
Igor Sazhin

“Memorial in Tver”, Tver
Valentina Sharipova

The following organizations provide expert cooperation during the carrying out of the project:

The Human Rights Centre “Memorial”

The Institute for Human Rights, Moscow

The European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), London

Maria Voskobitova, a lawyer at the Centre of International Human Rights Cooperation in Moscow, is also participating in the project in an expert capacity.