142 days left: Bewareofthem partners with legal professionals to help file complaints to ECtHR before Russia ceases to be a Party to the European Convention on Human Rights
On March 23, the Committee of Ministers and the Plenary of the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR or Strasbourg Court) decided, almost simultaneously, that the Russian Federation will cease to be a Contracting Party to the Convention on September 16, 2022. Therefore, Russians have only 142 days left to file a complaint about violations of the convention on human rights in situations that occurred before September 16.
After that, Russian citizens will still be able to bring applications against member states of the Council of Europe if they are under their jurisdiction, as nationality is not a criterion to benefit from the ECHR (Article 1).
All the admissibility criteria for bringing an application to the European Court of Human Rights must be fulfilled before an application can be entertained. The ECHR does not accept more than 90% of complaints due to non-compliance with the eligibility criteria – the mandatory requirements for the circumstances of the case, complaints, and the procedure for filing them, so we strongly recommend contacting professionals to prepare a case and its further legal support.
Bewareofthem Help, in partnership with human rights defenders from the United States and Europe, is now offering pro bono legal assistance with assessing and filing the cases to the European Court of Human Rights.
If you were illegally detained during mass events or your rights were violated by a government official such as a police officer, we are ready to fight for you. We can help you no matter where you are in Russia. To request help, contact our representative via the @bewareofthembot Telegram-bot or bewareofthem@protonmail.com. Our partners will help assess the admissibility of the complaint, form the case, file it to the ECtHR, and represent your interests in court.