Russia and the European Court of Human Rights: Reform of the Court and of Russian judicial practice?

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On 15 January 2010, Russia became the last of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe to ratify Protocol 14 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which will now allow the long-awaited reform of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to begin. This commentary explores two basic questions: Why did Russia not ratify Protocol 14 for such a long time? And why has it now decided to ratify it after four years of delay?

Dr Anton Burkov, PhD (Cantab), LLM (Essex), Assistant Professor of the Humanitarian University and Deputy Director of the Urals Center for Constitutional and International Human Rights Protection of the NGO Sutyajnik, Ekaterinburg, Russia.