Russia Moves to Exit European Anti-Torture Convention

The Russian government has officially proposed that President Vladimir Putin withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CPT).

The Gaze reports on it, referring to Deutsche Welle.

The resolution proposing to withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Treatment, signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, was published on the official portal of legal acts of the Russian Federation on Monday.

The Russian government has proposed terminating the European Convention against Torture and its protocols, signed by the country in 1996. The reasons for this initiative have not been officially explained.

The European Convention provides for the activities of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which has the right to visit signatory countries without hindrance, including places of detention, and to publish reports on the situation with torture. 

In Russia, such reports have in the past highlighted violations of rights in Chechnya, psychiatric hospitals, and prisons.

The Committee's latest report, published in November 2024, concerned the death of opposition figure Alexei Navalny in the Polar Wolf colony after repeated complaints of torture, as well as reports of torture of suspects in the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack. 

The Russian Foreign Ministry called these issues “politicized” and claimed that the committee was engaging in blackmail.

At the same time, it was noted that Russia had not participated in the work of the CPT since the end of 2023.

As The Gaze informed earlier, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has triggered the “Moscow Mechanism” to investigate Russia’s treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war, following a joint initiative by 41 member states.