European Court of Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights, first adopted in 1950, establishes a common set of civil and political rights across the member states of the Council of Europe. The European Court of Human Rights was founded in 1959 to hear individual petitions regarding member states' failure to protect the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention. The Court has succeeded in rendering the European Convention on Human Rights one of the most significant and influential international human rights instruments in the world today. At present, 44 member states of the Council of Europe, including the Russian Federation, participate in the European Court of Human Rights.

What kinds of cases does the Court hear?

The European Court of Human Rights is not a criminal court and does not bring sentences against perpetrators. Rather, it examines the respondent government's obligations under the European Convention and makes a ruling on whether the government has violated any provisions of the Convention. Violations can take place at three different levels:

1. a public authority can commit the violation itself (for instance, a police official who mistreats someone in detention violates the prohibition of ill-treatment);
2. public authorities can fail to properly investigate alleged violations and fail to provide an adequate remedy; and
3. the state can fail to protect someone from a violation.

In most of its cases, the Chechnya Justice Project argues that a violation took place on all three levels.