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Alexander Tarnavsky: we are ready to abide by the decisions of ECHR (the European Court of Human Rights) as long as they do not threaten the sovereignty of Russia 16 июня 2015 Alexander Tarnavsky, deputy Chairman of the SD Committee on Public and Religious Organizations, a SD JR party faction member about the inquiry of 93 deputies from all SD factions (Mr. Tarnavsky is one of them) directed to the RF Constitutional Court regarding admissibility of the European Court’s decisions in the Russian Federation. "In compliance with the Russian Federation legislation, the international treaties signed by Russia have become part of the RF legal system. But here we have to face the situation when the decisions passed by the European Court suppose changes to the acting Russian legislation, including the Constitutional norms and the documents of the RF Constitutional Court," Alexander Tarnavsky stressed. According to the deputy, such decisions affect the sovereignty of Russia by intruding upon its constitutional system. "A classical example here is a Russian constitutional provision saying that the imprisoned persons, and persons deprived of liberty under court sentence do not have a right to vote or to be elected to the bodies of state power. ECHR declared in one of its decisions that the above-mentioned constitutional provision contradicts the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; therefore, this constitutional provision shall be changed," the deputy said. The deputy believes that not all ECHR decisions may and must be unambiguously applied in the Russian Federation territory. "There are some decisions of the European Court that touch upon the Russian Constitution and the decisions of the RF Constitutional Court which is the only body of the constitutional supervision whose decisions may be changed only according to special procedure but it is no way the prerogative power of the European Court judges," he said. The parliamentarian thinks an additional point is that the European Court deals with normative work having a large political component. "At present the ECHR decisions result from following "double standards" regarding Russia, and as a result, they cause a high degree of distrust. Now not only an economic war is being conducted against Russia but also a legal one Its brightest example is the court’s decision on the "Yukos Company" trial," Mr. Tarnavsky declared. According to the deputy, independent experts were amazed by not only the unprecedented sum of 2 bln euros awarded by the ECHR decision to the Yukos Company’s shareholders but also by explanation of the court’s decision that the RF authorities have supposedly violated Article 6 of the European Convention which protects the right to a fair trial. "The decision on the Yukos Company’s trial (being part of an attack against Russia) is not the only one targeted at humiliation of Russia," the deputy added. As Alexander Tarnavsky explained, now it is necessary that the legal frames making possible further cooperation with ECHR be established. "We are waiting for the ECHR explanations regarding which part of its decision must be taken as unconditional and which one – in a particular way. It concerns the European Court’s decisions which affect the Constitution and the Constitutional Court’s decisions," the deputy explained.
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