Russia Withdraws from European Convention for the Prevention of Torture... Putin Signs Bill

On September 29 (local time), Russia withdrew from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture (ECPT).

According to TASS news agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on this day declaring that the ECPT is no longer valid within Russian territory.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

The bill stipulates that Russia will instead respond to human rights violations by applying its domestic laws.

Prior to this, the Russian parliament approved Russia's withdrawal from the ECPT.

The ECPT is a convention that allows the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), which operates under the Council of Europe (CoE)-the continent's leading human rights body-to visit detention facilities in member states and investigate the conditions of detainees in order to prevent torture and inhumane treatment. Russia joined the Council of Europe in 1996 and subsequently became a party to the ECPT. However, after the launch of the "special military operation" in Ukraine in 2022, relations between Russia and Europe deteriorated, leading Russia to withdraw from the Council of Europe.

Russia claims that it decided to withdraw from the ECPT in response to the Council of Europe blocking the activities of the Russian representative within the CPT, which oversees the implementation of the anti-torture convention.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.