Human Rights

When he signed off on the law for the ratification of Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters it was time for Russia to improve the work of domestic courts in order to stop people from taking their cases overseas.

"Our task is to establish quality justice which helps our citizens in the country," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Parliament had rejected the document in 2006 after some members dubbed the court in Strasbourg, anti-Russian. They were eventually appeased when the Council of Europe endorsed a proposal providing for a Russian judge to participate in any decisions concerning Russia.

And they are numerous. As it stands 27,000 of the 119,000 cases pending at the European Court of Human Rights, have been brought by Russians. More than by nationals of any other country.

Karina Moskalenko is a lawyer who runs a civil justice organisation for Russians with cases they want to have heard in Strasbourg. She told Deutsche Welle that although it is far from ideal to have to go running off to France to get a fair hearing, the unreliability of the current system leaves many with no other option.

"It would be much better if our citizens were protected by Russian courts or authorities, but as long as that is not the case, it's good that people know who they can turn to," she said.

Toe the line or pack up and go

The case of former Moscow city court judge Olga Kudeshkina is a prime example of how the European Court of Human Rights can help Russians. Her story began in 2003 when she was openly critical of her country's legal system. She told the press that the authorities put pressure on judges to pronounce their preferred verdicts, particularly in high-profile cases.

Shortly after going on record, Kudeshkina, who had presided in court for 18 years, was let go. Grounds given for her dismissal were that she was in breach of a law forbidding judges from doing or saying anything to diminish judicial authority. But she was not willing to sit back and have her career snatched out from under her.

"It was a violation of my rights as a human being, a citizen and a judge," she said. "Because judges, like all citizens of the Russian Federation, have the right to freedom of speech."

Long haul to fairville

In pursuit of justice, she took her case to the European Court of Human Rights where it was tried in February last year. The verdict clearly stipulated that Kudeshkina's dismissal contravened Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and was as such illegal. The court ordered Russia to pay the plaintive the sum of 10,000 euros ($13,500).

The Russian Supreme Court fought back with an application for appeal, but much to Kudeshkina's relief, Strasbourg turned it down. Nonetheless, she says it was a very difficult time for her.

"I was under a lot of pressure, there were even efforts to start criminal proceedings against me," she said. "But the verdict from the European Court has given me moral strength and allowed me to hope that the time, energy and health I invested in fighting for a respectable Russian legal system, was not wasted."

In September 2009 Kudeshkina received the compensation owed to her. But that is not where her story ends, because as yet the Supreme Court has failed to implement the European ruling which would allow her back onto the judge's podium. And because the Strasbourg ruling did not specify a time frame for her reinstatement, there's a chance that she will never preside over a court again.

High-profile case

Moskalenko says that freedom to pay up but change nothing is tantamount to the Russian powers buying themselves the liberty to continue violating human rights. Although the authorities have the chance to disprove this theory when they make a final decision on Kudeshkina's future in March, neither client nor lawyer are terribly optimistic.

But that will not stop them and others like them from continuing to try and import justice. Among Moskalenko's other clients is Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the high-profile business man and former head of YUKOS who was imprisoned on charges of fraud and tax evasion in 2005.

Moskalenko says she and Khodorkovsky are currently awaiting the verdicts on three complaints they took to Strasbourg.

"One of the rulings we're waiting for relates to the conditions of his detention, the duration of his pre-trial confinement and the legitimacy of his arrest," she said. "We have provided huge quantities of material that proves the case was politically motivated."

Yet as things stand, even if that claim were deemed legitimate by the court in Strasbourg, there's no knowing what Moscow would do next.

Author: Jegor Winogradow (tkw)
Editor: Rob Mudge