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February 11, 2025
The total amount of compensation awarded for the unlawful detentions and rights violations of people we have represented has reached 1 billion rubles. OVD-Info has helped detainees seek justice at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a judicial body of the Council of Europe, responsible for ensuring that member states comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is an international organization dedicated to promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law across its 46 member states.
Since 2017, OVD-Info has been challenging the unlawful detention of protesters and other human rights violations at the ECtHR. These cases include inhumane transport conditions, poor treatment in police stations and pre-trial detention centers, and the use of facial recognition technology to target political activists. Together with Memorial Human Rights Center, we have submitted over 3,000 complaints to the ECtHR. As of February 11, 2025, nearly 2,400 applicants have received rulings in their favor. The total amount of compensation awarded for these violations has now reached 1 billion rubles (over 10 million euros).
What happened after Russia left the ECtHR?
In March 2022, the Russian government withdrew from the Council of Europe and refused to pay all court-ordered ECtHR compensations. As a result, out of nearly 2,400 applicants, only two have reported receiving their compensation — both had their cases decided before Russia’s withdrawal, in January 2022. Each of them received €3,900.
Will these compensations ever be paid?
Russia’s obligation to pay these compensations does not disappear, even after its withdrawal from the Council of Europe. In fact, penalties for non-payment have already begun accumulating on some of these cases. We will continue to push for these payments and for justice to be restored.
Furthermore, we believe that compensating victims of unlawful detentions at protests will be a necessary condition for Russia’s reintegration into the international community after a regime change. Alongside these payments, Russia will need to implement systemic reforms and repeal repressive laws.
If compensations aren’t paid and repressive laws remain, what’s the point of appealing to the ECtHR or other international bodies?
Since Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe, the ECtHR can no longer review complaints related to repression that took place after September 2022. As a result, OVD-Info and other human rights organizations have redirected legal complaints to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC). Unlike the ECtHR, this body has limited resources for handling complaints and does not award financial compensation. So why continue submitting cases to international courts?
At OVD-Info, we believe that engaging with international justice is still crucial. While working on thousands of cases at the ECtHR — including those grouped under the landmark case «Lashmankin and Others v. Russia» — we essentially created an encyclopedia of repression against freedom of assembly and a comprehensive list of legislative reforms needed to protect protest rights in Russia.
Despite ignoring its obligations to pay ECtHR compensations and implement systemic reforms, Russia has still responded to certain demands from international bodies, such as ensuring medical care for political prisoners. For example, thanks to pressure from the UN Human Rights Committee, human rights advocates successfully secured a long-overdue surgery for Igor Baryshnikov, who had been waiting for months.
Additionally, the bureaucratic burden of handling thousands of complaints and the financial cost of compensations were effective tools in slowing down repression before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Even after constitutional amendments prioritized Russian law over international treaties, the Russian government continued paying most ECtHR compensations. Moreover, international justice mechanisms remain a critical tool for bringing global attention to repression in Russia.
Through this work, we have learned how to automate the complaint process, collect and analyze data, and maintain direct communication with thousands of applicants. The technological solutions we developed now form the foundation of OVD-Info’s legal assistance services, which are also used by other human rights organizations.
We remain committed to seeking justice for all victims of political persecution in Russia.