Moscow/Geneva, On 1 October 2025 — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law the country’s withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, a move that effectively ends international monitoring of Russia’s prisons and detention facilities.
The decision comes at a time when Moscow faces widespread allegations of torture and inhuman treatment of its own citizens, Ukrainian civilians, and prisoners of war. For more than three decades, the Convention empowered the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to conduct on-site inspections and issue recommendations. Since 1998, the CPT produced 27 reports on Russia, though cooperation had sharply deteriorated in recent years. In 2024, the committee formally reprimanded Moscow for obstructing its work.
A UN Special Rapporteur’s report in 2024 described torture and degrading treatment as “state-sanctioned tools for systemic oppression” in Russia, calling them “infamous features of the penitentiary system.”
Reacting to the withdrawal, the CPT warned that the step represents the “complete loss of benchmarks for developing the penitentiary system in line with international norms.” Human rights groups echoed concerns that the absence of external scrutiny will worsen conditions in detention facilities.
Russia remains a party to the UN Convention against Torture (CAT), but unlike the European framework, CAT does not provide for independent inspections. Its 2002 Optional Protocol (OPCAT), which would allow such monitoring, has never been signed by Moscow.
The Kremlin defended its decision, citing the Council of Europe’s refusal to seat a new Russian representative on the CPT since 2023, which it described as discriminatory. Russia had already been expelled from the Council of Europe in 2022 following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union condemned the move as another sign of Russia’s “complete disengagement from its international commitments,” further isolating the country from European human rights mechanisms.
Source: JURIST.
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