The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has taken another step towards ensuring that Russian legislation has a higher priority than decisions of internationally committed pseudo-legal institutions. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation actually rejected the decision of the ECHR to pay out more than 1,8 billion dollars to former Yukos shareholders. The decision of the Constitutional Court of Russia is commented on by the chairman of the court department Valery Zorkin:
The rulings of the ECHR, based on the interpretation of the Convention, do not negate the priority of the Constitution for the Russian Federation. (...) Solving the issue of the possibility of execution of decisions, the COP should, in accordance with international obligations, find a compromise.
According to Valery Zorkin, in this case the only compromise is the impossibility to execute the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, since this decision is contrary to the basic law of the Russian Federation.
From the statement of Valery Zorkin:
Russia has the right to retreat from the duties imposed on it, if this is the only way not to violate the Constitution. The payment to the shareholders of the company of an unprecedented amount from the budget system, which did not receive from it the huge tax payments necessary to fulfill public obligations to the citizens of Russia, contradicts the constitutional principles of equality and fairness.
The point is that the top of Yukos was accused of tax evasion. That is why it is at least strange to demand compensation from Russia for Yukos shareholders from the state budget.
The Constitutional Court urged representatives of the ECHR to work on the basis of equality of positions of individual subjects, and not to abandon the dialogue.
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