Churov: ECHR is not a court

The Chairman of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov said that he did not consider the ECHR a court. It is reported by TASS. This opinion, the official added, is divided by a member of the CEC, the former judge of the Constitutional Court Boris Ebzeev. “We,” said Churov, “rather support the point of view that the ECHR is not a court at all.”

Earlier on Wednesday, deputies from all four factions of the State Duma appealed to the Constitutional Court to clarify the issue in which part of the decision of the ECHR are applicable in Russia if they affect the constitutional norms and the solutions of the Constitutional Court itself. As the reference explained by Alexander Tarnavsky, who is instructed to submit the lower house to consider the request, the deputies who signed this document believe that "a number of decisions of the ECHR have their ultimate goal of the borders of the state sovereignty of the Russian Federation, based on the supremacy of the Constitution of Russia and the priority of the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of Russia as the only body authorized to exercise a constitutional supervision ".

“Therefore,” concluded the reference, “deputies believe that the recognition of the Russian Federation by the mandatory force of decisions of the ECHR cannot lead to the rule of judicial acts of the specified international judicial body in relation to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, including its interpretation and application of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.”

The authors of the request, Tarnavsky emphasized, do not believe that Russia should withdraw its signature under the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and thus get out of the jurisdiction of the ECHR. Speech, according to the reference, is only "on the elimination of legal uncertainty and clarifying the situation."

When asked if the request is related to the Constitutional Court, including with the decision of the Strasbourg Court in the Yukos case , Tarnavsky answered in the affirmative. “At one time,” he explained, “the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation gave an interpretation of the decisions to bring Yukos to the liability established by law and recognized these decisions by the relevant Constitution of the Russian Federation and Russian legislation.” Thus, the resolution of the ECHR, finding Russia guilty of violation of Article 6 of the European Convention (the right to a fair trial), directly contradicts the position of the Constitutional Court, the deputy continued, and now the Constitutional Court must explain whether Russia is obliged to pay 1.86 billion euros to former Yukos shareholders or not .