Russia suspends payments of compensation on European Court judgments

Russia has indefinitely stopped paying compensation on European Court of Human Rights judgments. The Memorial Human Rights Centre points out that the Russian Government virtually never implements ECHR judgments in their substantive part.

Individual measures are not applied, nor are systemic changes made. The only thing that was being done was to pay compensation for moral and material damages.

“One has the impression that the Russian authorities are once and for all turning away from their citizens, demonstratively refusing to defend their rights. By not paying compensation they are to a large extent depriving applicants of the possibility of gaining justice in specific cases. Such a decision to suspend payments also places the country at risk of sanctions from the Council of Europe, even exclusion from it.