The Hague, Moscow and Crimean Tatars

On April 19, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Russia to lift the ban on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people* and remove all other restrictions on the representation of their interests by the Crimean Tatars

The decision of the court in The Hague on the Crimean Tatars is not final, but preliminary - it was taken as an interim measure in the lawsuit of Ukraine against Russia. The lawsuit was filed back in January. Kiev, in particular, accuses Moscow of violating two conventions at once - "On the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination" (adopted in 1965) and "On Combating the Financing of Terrorism" (adopted in 1999). Russia, perhaps, would like to evade the process, but there are no such chances: both Conventions provide for the resolution of disputes on their observance in the Hague Court.

But while the lawsuit is still under consideration, the direction of the judges' thought is quite clear: Russia has violated the fundamental rights of the Crimean Tatars. And not only them. The Hague court ordered Russia to also restore Ukrainian-language education in Crimea. “At the moment, the court has concluded that the Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea are in a vulnerable position,” the Hague decision says.

However, as always happens in such cases, a lot depends on the nuances. Restoring the teaching of the Ukrainian language in Crimean schools is a completely feasible thing for Russia. But as for the return to the legal field of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people *, the representative body of the Crimean Tatars, as well as the persecution of representatives of the Crimean Tatar people - everything is more complicated here.

In 2016, Mezhdlis* was recognized by the Supreme Court of Crimea as an extremist organization, its activities in Russia were banned. In addition, criminal cases were initiated against some of the leaders of the Mejlis*. Mustafa Dzhemilev, now the former head of the Mejlis*, was banned from entering the territory of the Russian Federation, later the same measure was taken against his successor, Refat Chubarov. Both of them, as well as their deputies, have been put on the international wanted list. A significant number of Crimean Tatars have been subjected to extrajudicial persecution, a significant number of abductions are known, as well as pressure from the Russian authorities and organizations close to them. According to the Amnesty International report “Crimea in the Dark: Suppression of Dissent”, published at the end of 2016, the persecution of Crimean Tatars is systemic, and the ethnic component of repression is quite comparable to the political one.

Thus, now there is a conflict between the decision of the Hague court and Russian law. According to Art. 15 part 4 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the primacy of international law applies in Russia, and theoretically the Russian authorities are obliged to cancel the decision to ban the activities of the Mejlis *, compensate for the losses and stop the persecution of the Crimean Tatar community. However, in 2015, in connection with the Yukos case at the ECHR, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation made an extravagant decision that it could deem the decisions of international courts to be unenforceable if they contradict the Russian Constitution. This decision, to put it mildly, is controversial, its validity is more than doubtful. Nevertheless, there is nowhere to appeal against the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation - there is no one above him.

It is difficult to say how this conflict will be resolved. The question immediately arises: what will happen if Russia ignores the requirement of the Hague court, especially since, most likely, this will happen?

Of course, the Hague Court cannot impose sanctions against Russia or take and cancel the effect of any acts of Russian legislation and law enforcement. However, this does not mean that others cannot do it. If the Russian Federation ignores the decisions of the most authoritative court in the world, then Ukraine will receive more than a weighty argument to ask the European Union and individual states of the “free world” to strengthen the sanctions regime against Moscow.

Even the current sanctions regime has turned the Russian Federation into a pariah in international relations. If Russia begins to disregard the decision of the International Court of Justice, there is every reason to believe that the sanctions regime will be strengthened dramatically.

* The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people is an organization banned in Russia as extremist.