The Russian government has proposed denouncing the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The corresponding resolution was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The document states that Russia wants to withdraw from the Convention and its protocols. The corresponding decision still needs to be approved by the State Duma.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to this decision by the Russians, calling it a de facto confession of a crime — the systematic practice of torture and the desire to avoid responsibility for gross human rights violations.
"Modern Russia is a territory of lawlessness and humiliation of human dignity. The decision to withdraw from the Convention against Torture only reinforces this reality and finally places Russia among the countries for which the value of human life and dignity is zero," the Foreign Ministry emphasized.
It is known that the Russian Federation ratified the Convention on February 28, 1998. The document not only prohibits torture, but also obliges to prevent it. For this purpose, an independent international body was created — the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (ECPT), which was given the right to conduct inspections in places of detention to identify violations and make recommendations for improving conditions of detention.
States parties to the Convention are obliged to cooperate with the committee and provide it with unrestricted access to any places of detention.
After the invasion of Ukraine, in March 2022, Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe, of which it had been a member for 26 years. Since then, the country has remained a party to the Convention against Torture only formally. Russia has not taken any real part in the work of the ECtHR and has not allowed the Committeeʼs experts to enter its territory to study and document the situation with torture.
Also, an independent international commission to investigate violations in Ukraine stated that the Russian authorities are committing torture, which qualifies as crimes against humanity.
Since February 2022, Ukraine has systematically insisted on the exclusion of Russia from all cooperation mechanisms within the Council of Europe.
"A country that uses torture as an integral part of its policy cannot be a party to the Convention, which should unite states governed by the rule of law. The responsibility of the aggressor state for numerous crimes, including torture, must be unavoidable," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry emphasized.
The ministry called on the international community to act "actively and without delay" to hold the aggressor country accountable.
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