05/09/2012 Monitoring
Strasbourg, 05.09.2012 – The engagement and the mobilisation of more than 100,000 citizens following the December 2011 elections, the awakening of a very engaged civil society and the willingness of the authorities to hear the call for reforms have created in the Russian Federation “a momentum for change” and to realise this unique political potential, “Russian society needs concrete reforms”, the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said at the end of its meeting in Paris.
The adopted draft resolution, based on a report prepared by György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) which covers the honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation over the last seven years, welcomes “very positive” steps, such as amendments to the law on political parties, changes in the electoral law and the re-introduction of direct elections of governors.
A number of reforms in the field of the judiciary are also seen as satisfactory, such as the establishment of the Investigative Committee and its separation from the Prosecutor’s Office, the adoption of the Compensation Act and penitentiary reform.
However, other measures raise “serious concerns”. The de-legalisation of the Republican Party in 2007, the refusal to register some political parties, the systematic non-authorisation of peaceful demonstrations and the use of disproportionate force to disperse them, the creation of restrictive conditions for freedom of the media, especially the large and influential media, and harassment of the opposition, have all had negative effects on the state of democracy in Russia up to the autumn of 2011. Noting that, ahead of the parliamentary elections in December 2011, the reporting period was marked by a further strengthening of executive power and narrowing of pluralism, the committee urges the newly-elected President Putin “to democratise the system instead of increasing its authoritarianism”.
Legislative amendments to the laws on the Constitutional Court have been widely viewed as indicative of the “growing lack of judicial independence in Russia”. The conviction of Mr Khodorkovsky and the conviction of the members of the Pussy Riot group were largely perceived as a sign that the “judiciary in Russia remains subject to political pressure and the influence of the executive”. The committee calls for the immediate release of the three members of the punk group.
The committee notes that the number of cases of violence against journalists has decreased, but serious human rights violations, such as harassment, beatings and assassinations of engaged citizens – including, among others, the murders of Anna Politkovskaya and Natalia Estemirova – still remain unpunished. The cases of Mr Magnitsky and Ms Trifonova, and the continuing impunity of the perpetrators, have raised the committee’s utmost concern.
Addressing to the Federal authorities a list of measures to undertake, the committee proposes to pursue its monitoring procedure until it receives “evidence of substantial progress with regard to the issues raised”. The draft resolution will be debated during PACE’s next plenary session (Strasbourg, 1-5 October 2012).
The Russian Federation joined the Council of Europe on 28 February 1996. Upon accession, it committed itself to respect the obligations incumbent upon every member State. To date, the Monitoring Committee has submitted three reports on the honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation: an information report in 1998 and two full reports, in 2002 and 2005.