Russian lawmakers allow Russia not to enforce European Court’s judgments

The Parliament of the Russian Federation has granted the Russian Constitutional Court the right to recognize as impossible the enforcement of judgments of international courts by the country.

According to BBC Russian, the package of amendments to the Federal Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation” was passed in the second and the third readings.

According to the authors of the bill, the amendments should “secure the legal sovereignty” of Russia and “oppose the biased judgments” of international courts.

One of the authors, MP of the “United Russia” pro-presidential faction Vladimir Pligin believes that the bill does not call into question the Russia’s position on compliance with the international commitments.

“All our activities are focused on the implementation of the international treaties,” he said.

Three MPs voted against the bill.

“I, [Sergei] Petrov, and [Ilya] Ponomarev (more precisely, his card in my hand by virtue of the power of attorney) voted against,” member of the “Fair Russia” faction Dmitry Gudkov posted on his Facebook page following the voting results.

436 MPs voted for the document.

As a reminder, in mid-July, the Constitutional Court ruled that Russia could not enforce the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights if they violated the fundamental constitutional norms.

In June, over 90 Russian lawmakers appealed to the Constitutional Court with the request to explain how the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights should be applied in Russia.