DISINFO: The European Court of Human Rights has become a Western instrument against Russia
SUMMARY
The European Court of Human Rights has become a political instrument against Russia in the hands of Western politicians.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative denigrating the European Court of Human Rights. The claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
The ECHR is a judicial body whose task is to interpret the European Convention of Human Rights and to establish, in each set of proceedings brought before it, whether the conduct of a signatory state constitutes a violation of the claimant’s Convention rights. The Court was formed in 1959 by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, (an institution predating and separate from the European Union which is not to be confused with the EU’s European Council. See this explainer.)
Russia was a member of the Council of Europe (CoE) for 26 years, until it was suspended in March 2022 by a majority vote (42 out of 47 member states) due to its new unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The recruitment process for judges to the ECHR is as follows: each member state of the Council of Europe, including Russia, proposes three candidates, from whom one is elected for a 9-year non-renewable mandate.
Although judges are elected in respect of a State, they hear cases as individuals and do not represent that State. They are independent and cannot engage in any activity that would be incompatible with their duty of independence and impartiality.
See more cases in our database related to the ECHR which claims that George Soros infiltrated and controls the ECHR; that ECHR strongly restricts the rights of expression; that ECHR makes all decisions based on its own anti-Russian logic of behaviour; that ECHR is biased; and that ECHR turns into a political tool against Russia.
Technical remark: This disinformation was broadcast via Sputnik on 11 June 2022. Due to the EU decision to temporarily restrict the spread and dissemination of RT and Sputnik inside the EU, access to the link may not work inside the EU.