On Thursday, January 28, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) debated the issue of the Russian delegation credentials to PACE, as was reported by the press service of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
PACE has ratified the credentials of the Russian parliamentary delegation by a large majority after they were challenged on substantive grounds on the opening day of the session.
109 delegated voted for the ratification, while only 37 voted against it.
According to the resolution based on a report by Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), the Assembly said it was committed to dialogue as a means of reaching lasting solutions and pointed out that it remained a platform where the Russian delegation could be “held accountable on the basis of the Council of Europe’s values and principles”.
Although, several concerns were listed in the decision:
* a constitutional provision enabling Russia’s Constitutional Court to declare a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights as “non-executable”
* a new law which makes a solution to the Crimea issue, in line with international law, “virtually impossible” (the Assembly also made clear that ratification of the credentials “would in no way constitute recognition, even implicit, of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation”).
* the “crackdown on civil society, extra-parliamentary opposition and critical journalists, as well as restrictions imposed by the Russian authorities on basic freedoms”
* restrictive amendments to laws on the activities of NGOs and the media, the conduct of public events, and the protection of State security, as well as laws limiting the human rights of LGBTI persons
* the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and the lack of any meaningful investigation by the Russian authorities, as well as his recent arrest and detention in Moscow, and arrests and the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators supporting him.
The Assembly called for Mr. Navalny’s release, as well as that of peaceful demonstrators and supporters unduly detained, and urged Russia to review a number of laws to bring them into line with the Council of Europe standards. It also called for the Council of Europe’s School of Political Studies to be removed from the list of “undesirable organizations”.
The Assembly said it “expects that its clear offer of a meaningful dialogue will be taken up so as to lead to tangible and concrete results”.
As was earlier reported by "Apostrophe", after PACE supported the initiative of the Ukrainian delegation challenging the credentials of the Russian delegation to the Assembly, Russian delegate of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Leonid Slutsky said that if the credentials of the Russian Federation in PACE are not ratified, the delegation will leave Strasbourg and will not participate in the sessions of the Assembly.