"Although Russia has been a member of the convention since 1997, civil rights activists have always complained that torture and degrading treatment are widespread in Russian police stations and detention centers. Formally, the convention allowed international monitors access to Russian prisons, but this effectively stopped following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022."
"'In practice, tearing up this agreement will have no consequences,' Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with Department One, a human rights group, told RFE/RL's Current Time in August when the move was first discussed. 'Russia has already stopped implementing anything connected with [the convention]...in fact, no conventions that Russia has signed in previous decades are actually working,' he added."
"Russia says that the Council of Europe has blocked its participation in Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and thus Moscow is unable to fully participate in the work of this monitoring mechanism. Russia joined the Council of Europe in February 1996, but was suspendedby the organization in February 2022, just weeks after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the same time of its expulsion, Moscow said it was withdrawing from the council,"
Russia's State Duma passed a bill to withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture after a proposal by President Vladimir Putin. Membership since 1997 did not prevent persistent allegations that torture and degrading treatment are widespread in police stations and detention centers. Access for international monitors to Russian prisons effectively ceased after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russian officials say the Council of Europe blocked Moscow's participation in the prevention committee, preventing full engagement with monitoring mechanisms. Russia joined the Council in 1996, was suspended in February 2022, and announced withdrawal after expulsion.
Read at RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
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