Available in Russian
Author: Sergey Marochkin
DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2023-4-32-55
Keywords: ECHR; ECtHR; interstate bodies; Eurasian human rights protection mechanism; arbitration courts; courts of general jurisdiction; RF Supreme Court; Russian Constitutional Court; 2020 constitutional amendments
The significance of international law and the status and role of decisions by international courts and treaty bodies in the Russian legal system are radically changing following two turning points in the internal and external life of the country – the adoption of constitutional amendments in 2020 and the termination of Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe (CoE) and other international structures in 2022. After adoption of the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation, the interaction of international law and domestic law developed intensively. Russian judicial practice referring to decisions of international courts, especially the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), was extensive. This study with its analytical review of current judicial practice and of argumentation and decisions by the courts after those two turning points, seen against the background of prior judicial approaches and experience, reveals a change in courts’ perceptions of the decisions of international bodies and courts, as well as new trends and possible or future prospects. This research has been conducted by studng the extensive practice of domestic courts of all types and levels, making it possible to draw conclusions with a sufficient degree of reliability. Practice shows that the 2020 constitutional amendments became a counterbalance to one of the foundations of Russia’s constitutional order, namely, the role of international law in its legal system. Termination of membership in the CoE and its conventions and withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the ECtHR naturally led to a narrowing of the legal basis for the argumentation and validity of court decisions and to fencing off world and European standards of rights and protection mechanisms. Under these conditions, the constitutional right of citizens to apply to interstate bodies for the protection of their rights needs to be ensured. Acts of human rights treaty bodies may acquire new significance in the Russian legal system. It also seems expedient to gradually form a Eurasian mechanism for the protection of rights within one of the existing structures (the EAEU, the CIS, the SCO). The results of this study make it possible to formulate conclusions and to suggest possible emerging directions for further movement.
About the author: Sergey Marochkin – Doctor of Sciences in Law, Professor, Head of the Centre for International and Comparative Legal Studies, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia.
Citation: Marochkin S. (2023) Resheniya mezhdunarodnykh sudov i dogovornykh organov po pravam cheloveka v rossiyskoy sudebnoy praktike: novaya real’nost’, pervye rezul’taty, vozmozhnye perspektivy [Decisions of international courts and treaty bodies in Russian judicial practice: new reality, first results, possible prospects]. Sravnitel’noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 32–55. (In Russian).
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