Russian parliament fails to ratify amendments to human rights court
Moscow (dpa) - Russia's lower house of parliament refused Wednesday to ratify a protocol aimed at streamlining the European Court of Human Rights, which all other European Council member-states have ratified.
The protocol provided for amendments including extending judges' terms to nine years, from a previous six. It also would allow for the court to dismiss cases where individuals had not suffered "a significant disadvantage."
A mere 27 deputies in Russia's 450-member State Duma voted to ratify the protocol. A majority of 226 votes had been required to pass the amendments.
With Russia's refusal to ratify the protocol, which was signed in May, the amendments will fall flat despite backing from all other 46 European Council governments.
The council had called the protocol an attempt to simplify procedures at the court, where cases have been increasingly backed up as almost all of Europe has joined the council.
The Duma's vote was a rare move against the wishes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had pushed for the protocol and who is usually able to get his will carried out in the Duma.
Russian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Grigory Karasin, who is also a representative for Putin, had presented the protocol in the Duma.
After its rejection, he said the legislature's decision would deal a blow to Russia's world prestige.
But the vast majority of deputies in the Duma, including Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, thought the protocol would hurt Russia, a country that is saddled with human rights problems.
"It isn't advantageous for Russia to ratify," Zhirinovsky said in remarks run by Interfax.
After a number of deputies spoke against ratification of the protocol, independent Deputy Sergei Popov became the lone legislator to argue for the bill's passing.
"Russian citizens turn to the human rights court because they don't trust our own justice system," Interfax quoted Popov as saying of the Strasbourg, France-based court.
Court officials have said that in recent years more than 20 per cent of all cases filed have been from Russia. The number of Russian cases judged reached 83 last year, up from 15 in 2004. // © 2006 DPA
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