In an opinion published late Thursday 18 June, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe considers that “the proposed addition to Article 79 of the Constitution should be removed” or modified to leave open the possibility to “find a solution to possible contradictions” between judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and the Russian Constitution.
“The Russian Federation has made the political decision to join the Council of Europe and remain a member of the organisation”, say the Council of Europe's constitutional law experts. “In ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights and accepting the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg Court, it has committed itself to executing the judgments of the Court. The State is not free to execute or not to execute the Strasbourg Court judgment. These are binding”.
This addition denounced by the Venice Commission is intended to “directly guarantee the primacy of the Constitution in the Russian legal system” and is part of the series of amendments to the Constitution tabled by Vladimir Putin in January 2020.
In July 2015, following a ruling condemning it to pay a record compensation (€1.9 billion) to the Yukos oil group, Russia had already officially reserved the right not to apply the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the event that they “conflict with the Russian Constitution”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)