Russia and the European Court of Human Rights The Strasbourg Effect European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation Series

Why has there been a human rights backlash in Russia despite the country having been part of the European human rights protection system since the late 1990s? To what extent does Russia implement judgments of the Strasbourg Court, and to what extent does it resist the implementation? This fascinating study investigates Russia's turbulent relationship with the European Court of Human Rights and examines whether the Strasbourg court has indeed had the effect of increasing the protection of human rights in Russia. Researchers and scholars of law and political science with a particular interest in human rights and Russia will benefit from this in-depth exploration of the background of this subject.

Introduction: Russia, Strasbourg and the paradox of a human rights backlash Lauri Mälksoo; Part I. Setting the Scene: 1. Russia in the Council of Europe: participation a la carte Petra Roter; Part II. Interaction between the ECtHR and Russian Courts: 2. The use of European human rights law in Russian courts Anton Burkov; 3. ECtHR and the Russian Constitutional Court: duet or duel? Sergei Marochkin; 4. The Russian Constitutional Court and the Strasbourg court: judicial pragmatism in a dual state Alexei Trochev; 5. Philosophy behind human rights: Valery Zorkin vs the West Mikhail Antonov; 6. Russia's cases in the ECtHR and the question of socialization Bill Bowring; 7. Russia's impact on the Strasbourg system: as seen by two former judges of the European Court of Human Rights Elisabet Fura and Rait Maruste; Part III. Specific Rights and Violations: Case Studies: 8. Egregious human rights violations in Chechnya: the continuing pursuit of justice Philip Leach; 9. Property rights in Russia: reconsidering the socialist legal tradition Vladislav Starzhenetskiy; 10. LGBT rights in Russia and European human rights standards Dmitri Bartenev; 11. Nativist ideological responses to European/liberal human rights discourses in contemporary Russia Benedikt Harzl; General conclusions Wolfgang Benedek.

Lauri Mälksoo is Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu in Estonia. He is the author of Illegal Annexation and State Continuity (2003) and Russian Approaches to International Law (2015).
Wolfgang Benedek is a former head of the Institute of International Law and International Relations and director of European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy at University of Graz.