Volkswacht Bodensee - Europe rights court condemns Russia for suppressing Ukraine war dissent

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia had imposed "systemic and widespread pattern of reporting restrictions" over the war, following cases brought by independent Russian media the newspaper Novaya Gazeta and TV channel Dozhd as well as individual applicants.

The cases concerned legislation introduced in Russia after the invasion making it an offence to discredit the military or spread so-called fake news about its actions.

Both the Novaya Gazeta and Dozhd TV were shut down over their reporting of the war and defiance of the new legislation implemented under President Vladimir Putin.

The ECHR ruled there had been a violation of the article of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the court enforces, covering freedom of expression.

The restrictions showed "a coordinated effort to suppress dissent rather than counter any threat to national security," it said.

"National courts had criminalised any reporting or statements that contradicted the official narrative describing the invasion of Ukraine as a 'special military operation'," it said, in reference to how it remains illegal in Russia to describe the conflict as a war.

"No effort had been made to balance the competing interests at stake, in particular to take into account a matter of crucial interest to the public, namely a major armed conflict and allegations of war crimes," it said in the ruling.

The ECHR, part of the Council of Europe rights body, is tasked with implementing the European human rights convention in the 46 signatory countries.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it was excluded from the Council of Europe, and dropped out of the convention in September of that year.

However, the European court is still competent in cases against Russia that were brought before that date.

K.Hofmann--VB