Failed for Now: Pussy Riot and the Rule of Law in Russia

Author(s): Caroline van Galle
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 122
Pages: 2-5
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2013

The images of Pussy Riot band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina in the dock at Moscows Khamovniki District Court have made headlines around the world. Their trial dominated the political debate to an unprecedented extent in the summer of 2012 and gave rise to strong public protest. From a legal point of view, however, the trial only showcases the well-known deficiencies of the Russian criminal justice system: namely that is gives short shrift to the Russian Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the interpretation of relevant legal norms. Any discussion on the formal elements of crime remained superficial at the stages of both arraignment and sentencing. Although no political intervention can be shown to have taken place in this case, there is a discernible lack of determination on the part of the political elites to implement the ECtHRs decisions systematically and to make visible efforts to boost the independence of the judiciary.

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