Russia withdraws from European Convention for the Prevention of Torture News
Kremlin.ru, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Russia withdraws from European Convention for the Prevention of Torture

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed into law the withdrawal of Russia from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture. The move effectively eliminates oversight of the country’s prisons and detention facilities at a time when Moscow faces widespread accusations of torture and inhuman treatment against its own citizens, Ukrainian civilians, and prisoners of war.

The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment previously authorized regular visits by international experts to locked-down facilities. Over the course of three decades, these experts produced 27 reports assessing the risk of inhuman treatment and issued recommendations for reform. In 2024, however, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) issued a statement reprimanding Russia for its lack of cooperation. According to a 2024 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, “torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are used as State-sanctioned tools for systemic oppression in the Russian Federation,” calling them “infamous features of the Russian penitentiary system.”

Responding to Russia’s withdrawal, the CPT said on Telegram that the move marks the “complete loss of benchmarks for developing the penitentiary system in line with international norms.” While Russia is still a party to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the treaty only mandates the submission of periodic reports. Inspections of detention facilities fall under its 2002 Optional Protocol (OPCAT), to which Russia is not a signatory.

Russian officials justified the withdrawal by citing the Council of Europe’s refusal to allow the election of a new Russian representative to the CPT, leaving the country without representation since 2023, a move Russia considers discriminatory. Russia had already been excluded from the Council of Europe in 2022 following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. European Union spokespersons commented that the withdrawal was yet another step in Russia’s “complete disengagement from its international commitments.”

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