Problems of Compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights in cases of Deportation from the Russian Federation

Over the past few years, the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly found Russia’s failure to comply with the guarantees of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in deportation cases. At the same time, the ECtHR, as a rule, found the same type of violations, indicating the presence of systemic defects in the Russian legal system. A significant number of new similar and related complaints are currently pending before the ECtHR, including a recently communicated complaint by human rights activist Vanessa Kogan, head of the NGO Astreya, related to the annulment of her residence permit in Russia. The paper is devoted to assessing the observance by the Russian authorities of the ECHR guarantees in the field of deportation, identifying key problems in this area and ways to solve them. The paper develops a study conducted in the recently published issue “Protection in cases of expulsion from the Russian Federation”, prepared in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Based on the results of this study, the author concludes that deportation and related procedures, from the point of view of compliance with the ECHR, are the most problematic mechanism for expulsion from Russia. The paper shows the main defects in legal regulation and law enforcement practice, and suggests specific measures to eliminate them.

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