In the past year, Russia has seen numerous violations of freedom of assembly, as well as politically motivated criminal investigations dogged by poor evidence and procedure. (c) Xinhua/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved. While Vladimir Putin won the recent presidential election, he made his country fail a much more important test: the test of human rights, freedoms, and space for civil society and independent voices. So why has Thorbjørn Jagland and the Council of Europe welcomed him as a winner?
President Vladimir Putin came to power just three years after Russia joined Europe’s human rights club in 1996, the Council of Europe. Russia’s record of cooperation with the body on human rights is one and the same with Putin’s record. It is not a good one, and it has become increasingly fraught in recent years. Yes he wins the elections, but he has failed the human rights test that should set the standards for Europe’s premier human rights body.
Yet, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland rushed to congratulate President Putin’s on his re-election, in a letter sent on Monday 19 March. This came shortly after the OSCE election observation mission concluded that the presidential election took place in an “overly controlled legal and political environment marked by continued pressure on critical voices.”
