President Vladimir Putin has signed a law
allowing Russia's Constitutional Court to decide whether or not to implement
rulings of international human rights courts.
The law, published on Tuesday on the government
website, enables the Russian court to overturn decisions of the
Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) if it deems them
unconstitutional.
Human Rights Watch has said the law is designed
to thwart the ability of victims of human rights violations in Russia to find
justice through international bodies.
The law comes after the ECHR ruled in 2014 that
Russia must pay a 1.9 billion euro ($2.09 billion) award to shareholders of the
defunct Yukos oil company, a verdict that added to financial pressure on Moscow
as it struggles with shrinking revenues due to tumbling oil prices and Western
sanctions.
The ECHR said it had received 218 complaints against
Russia in 2014 and that it had found 122 cases in which Moscow had violated the
European Convention on Human Rights, including the deportation of Georgian
citizens in 2006 and the incarceration of defendants in metal cages during
Russian court hearings.
Russia's parliament approved the new bill last
week and Putin signed it into law on Monday.
Valery Zorkin, the head of Russian
Constitutional Court, told Putin on Monday that Russia was in favor of
"dialogue" in case there was a problem.
"I don't see any problem there, I think
that people are worrying for nothing," Zorkin said.
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