Russia’s State Duma has unanimously approved a law denouncing the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture, completing Moscow’s withdrawal from the treaty three years after leaving the Council of Europe.
The initiative came from the Russian Cabinet, with President Vladimir Putin submitting the draft law to parliament following a proposal by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Russia originally signed the convention in 1996 upon joining the Council of Europe, and the document entered into force for Moscow two years later. However, Russia ceased its membership in the Council in 2022.
According to the explanatory note attached to the bill, Russia has not been represented in the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture since 2023. The process of electing a Russian member was blocked by the Council of Europe, despite the principle of cooperation stipulated in the convention. The committee, designed to ensure independent oversight, ignored Moscow’s appeals for representation.
The convention focused on preventing torture in relation to prisoners. The Committee, composed of independent experts, was granted the right to visit prisons and detention facilities, communicate with inmates, and issue confidential reports that could later be made public.
In 2021, President Putin acknowledged the existence of torture in Russian penal colonies, stressing that investigations were being conducted since such actions are “a clear crime.” Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized that Russia’s withdrawal from the convention would cause “no harm” to its citizens, noting that Moscow remains “committed to its international obligations in the field of human rights.”
