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International

Council of Europe chief fears Moscow may quit organisation

11:20, Monday, 27 November, 2017
Council of Europe chief fears Moscow may quit organisation

The Council of Europe, the leading pro-democracy body in the region, is considering lifting sanctions it imposed over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine for fear Moscow could otherwise pull out — dealing a blow to human rights protection.
     Moscow is demanding its voting rights be restored in the parliamentary assembly of the council, which oversees the 1949 human rights convention and European Court of Human Rights. Russia was stripped of them over its 2014 annexation of Crimea.
     Thorbjorn Jagland, the council’s secretary-general, is touring European capitals warning of a serious risk that Moscow could withdraw or crash out of the 47-member body unless its demands are met. That would deprive 140m Russians of access to the Strasbourg-based court, where Russia accounts for a third of the caseload.
     “It would really be very, very bad if Russia was to leave . . . because the convention and court has been so important for Russian citizens,” Mr Jagland told the FT in an interview. “It will be a negative development for Europe, because we will have a Europe without Russia. It would be a big step back for Europe.”

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