How could it happen that, even after sanctions, the access to justice system in Russia is better than in the sanctioning country, the US?

The impact of antiwar sanctions upon access to justice in Russia: 

Russia will become the US?

 

Tatiana Neroni, J.D.

March 11, 2022 ©

 

On February 24, 2022 Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state, the Ukraine, and has started a war there, still ongoing at the time this article has been written.

As part of the effort to curb and eventually stop that war, various political and economic sanctions were imposed by the US and European states on Russia.

As a result of those sanctions, Russia announced that it

1.       Is leaving the Council of Europe[1];
2.       May likely restore the death penalty[2] (after a moratorium on such a type sentence since 1997, for a quarter of a century); and
3.       Will no longer be subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights[3].

These 3 points have resulted in Russia regressing in terms of access to justice of its residents, especially in case of human rights violations.

In that regress though, interestingly enough, Russia is now approaching the state of access to justice of the main country imposing the antiwar sanctions, the United States.

Let us compare access to justice systems of the United States and Russia before Russia’s war with the Ukraine and now, during that war.

 

Table 1 Comparative table of access to justice systems, US and Russia, before Russia’s war with the Ukraine

Aspect of access to justice system	United States	Russia	Who had it better
Access to an international court on human rights violations	None, specifically prohibited by a condition US put in during ratification of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights[4]	Full access to the European Court of Human Rights[5]	Russia
Death penalty	Yes, federal Yes, certain states	No, moratorium since 1997	Russia
Government control over attorneys representing clients in court against the government	Total control   All lawyers opposing the government in court are controlled by the government through licensing Most Americans cannot afford an attorney, but are prohibited by the government to choose who would represent them in court, including in cases where the government is their opponent in court	Partial (criminal defense bar only, regulation is through Criminal defense lawyer associations, no direct licensing of criminal defense lawyers by the government) Residents of Russia may choose who they want to represent them in all courts but criminal (and, of late, some appellate courts)	Russia

Now, let’s see whether and how this situation is going to change with the impending antiwar sanctions and the resulting actions of Russia.

 

Table 2  Comparative table of access to justice, US and Russia, as a result of Russia’s war against the Ukraine

 

Aspect of access to justice system	United States	Russia	Who has it better
Access to an international court on human rights violations	None, specifically prohibited by a condition US put in during ratification of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights	None	Equally bad
Death penalty	Yes, federal Yes, certain states	Planning to reintroduce the death penalty	If introduced, equally bad
Government control over attorneys representing clients in court against the government	Total control   Most Americans cannot afford an attorney, but are prohibited by the government to choose who would represent them in court, including in cases where the government is their opponent in court	Partial (criminal defense bar only, regulation is through Criminal defense lawyer associations, no direct licensing of criminal defense lawyers by the government)   All Russians, including all lawyers, are prohibited by the new criminal law to criticize the government ONLY re issues of war against the Ukraine Residents of Russia may choose who they want to represent them in all courts but criminal (and, of late, some appellate courts)	Russia is still better yet, no total control over lawyers criticizing the government, no opportunity to deprive a lawyer of his/her profession because of his/her political activities by revoking a license, and thus deprive the lawyer’s client of effective representation by that lawyer against the government on issues of human rights violations

 

  

CONCLUSION

 

It is a sad paradox, as the two tables above show, that even after Russia deals a blow to its access to justice system on 3 major points, it still has a better access to justice opportunities for people on the issue of human rights violations than the access to justice system in the United States, with the exception of the criminal punishment of criticism of the Russian government on the particular issue of the war in the Ukraine.

So, the US has so far beaten up the Russian government into a regress in its access to justice system towards the conditions of the sanctioning country, the United States.

---

[1] The Moscow Times, Russia Quits Europe’s Rule of Law Body, Sparking Questions Over Death Penalty, March 10, 2022.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] For a comprehensive account of bars in the United States erected by its government for access to justice see:  Neroni, Tatiana, No effective legal remedies for Americans for human rights violations on the U.S. soil, September 26, 2018, Academia.edu.

[5] See e.g. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on enforcement of ECHR judgments, August 17, 2015 (commenting on the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation confirming that Russia subjects itself to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights as a result of Russia’s ratification of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed in Rome on November 4, 1950 (the “European Convention”).

=============

This article is cautionary.

There is no question (to me personally, at least) that in the case of the war with the Ukraine Russia is an aggressor and is acting unlawfully and unfairly, causing deaths, injuries and misery to people of a sovereign nation.

Yet, let's not forget while condemning an outside dictator and aggressor that 

• we also have a lot of problems here in the United States to solve, and that 
• we should not be led on a string by our government pretending to be "holier than thou" on the very issue of human rights where our own government is worse than the targeted foreign dictatorship.

Let's clean our own house, too.