Application by courts of judgments of the constitutional court of the russian federation and the European Court of Human Rights in one case

Abstract

The paper deals with the problem of the application by the courts of the Russian Federation of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the European Court of Human Rights in the same civil case. The problem is caused by the uncertainty of the hierarchy of these sources of law in terms of international and national law. The issue of non-fulfillment of ECtHR judgments was considered from the point of view of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969. The author analyzes foreign practice on the execution of judgments of the ECHR. In particular, the author analyzes the practice of the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany, having faced with the contradiction of the fundamental norms of the state with the ECtHR judgments.

The mechanisms to balance the legal positions of these courts have been revealed. The author suggests considering Protocol No. 16 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as one of the possible means to eliminate the contradictions between the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the ECHR. The procedure of advisory opinions, from the point of view of the author, may make it possible to coordinate the legal positions of the ECHR and the national practice of applying the Rome Convention to the stage of submitting a complaint of Russian citizens to the ECHR.