Russia ignored the ECHR decision on freedom of the assemblies

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe accused Russia of non-implementation of the ECHR decision on freedom of meetings and assemblies.

“The 'positive steps' taken by the authorities are not enough to 'witness tangible progress,'” Kommersant quoted the committee as saying.

According to the newspaper, to date, Russia has not complied with the ECHR decision made three years ago. In 2017, a court in Strasbourg found Russia guilty of human rights violations based on complaints from 23 Russians. The applicants applied to the ECHR in connection with the refusal of the Russian authorities to approve the holding of public events.

According to the leadership of the Council of Europe, after the judgments in favor of the group of applicants were made, the Russian government should have carried out systemic reforms in the area of freedom of assembly, but this was not done.

As noted by The Insider , the ECHR ordered Russia to report back on the measures taken by June 2021.

So far, the situation with freedom of assembly in the country remains unfavorable. People continue to be detained at rallies, often with the use of force, and for participation in single pickets, citizens are punished as for mass rallies. At the same time, the number of cases related to the participation of citizens in public events continues to grow rapidly.

According to the international NGO European Implementation Network, over the past decade, Russia has not complied with 88% of the decisions of the ECHR.

“Only Azerbaijan is ahead of us: there is 100% non-fulfillment. Ukraine ignores 60% of general measures, Georgia - 20%", - Kommersant quotes the words of Marina Agaltsova, a lawyer of the Memorial human rights society.

Most of the applicants had to wait seven years or more for the execution of the judgments in their favor.

In July, it was reported that the Ministry of Justice, implementing the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, paid out more than 1.1 billion rubles in 2019. But already in August 2020, it became known that the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation ran out of money to pay compensations under the decisions of the ECHR, in connection with which transfers to the victims were suspended.