Abuse of Power by Russian Police: Experiences with the National and International Legal Remedies

• In Event: Police Misconduct

Abstract

The project focuses on documented cases of physical abuse by Russian police and examines the national and international legal remedies available for such victims. The presentation is based on various data collected by the author in Volgograd, Russia during 2011 including interviews with victims of police abuse and their lawyers, court documents, focus groups with criminal justice professionals, and the survey of general population. The project explores the effectiveness of legal remedies for police abuse within the Russian court system and the European Court of Human Rights. The study finds that national remedies within the Russian legal system are limited due to the extreme centralization of criminal justice system and endemic corruption. The effectiveness of international remedies varies from case to case based on both socio-economic status of the victims and Russian government’s reluctance to accept the outcomes of the case at ECHR.

Author

• Olga Semukhina, Marquette University