European Court of Human Rights Condemns Russia in Two Cases

The European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia in two separate rulings regarding the investigations into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist, and the treatment of the punk rock group Pussy Riot. In its ruling on the Anna Politkovskaya case, who was shot dead in Moscow in 2006, the court stated: "The Russian government has not conducted the necessary investigations to identify the individual or individuals who ordered this murder." Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of Vladimir Putin, was killed on October 7, 2006, in her home in Moscow, where she exposed high-level financial corruption in Russia and widespread human rights violations in Chechnya. In 2014, two men were sentenced to life imprisonment for their involvement in the murder of this journalist, while three others received long prison sentences. However, Ms. Politkovskaya's family and colleagues argue that justice is not served until those who ordered her murder are identified and punished. This journalist was killed on Vladimir Putin's birthday, fueling speculation that the murder was a "gift" to the Russian president. In its second ruling, the European Court of Human Rights stated that members of the punk rock and performance group Pussy Riot were treated inhumanely and degradingly, and their rights to a fair trial and freedom were violated. Members of this group were arrested in 2012 for staging a performance protesting Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency while he was Prime Minister at that time. The court ordered Russia to pay 72,000 euros in compensation to three members of this group. The members of Pussy Riot were accused of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for performing a punk-style prayer in one of Moscow's cathedrals and were sentenced to two years in prison. The prison sentence of one member was overturned on appeal, and the other two members were released from prison in December 2013 under a pardon that included non-violent offenders.