Free Russia Foundation Urges the European Court of Human Rights to Reconsider Its Dismissal of 879 Russian Applications

4.9.2026

  | Free Russia Foundation

On 3 September 2026, the European Court of Human Rights decided to forego consideration of 879 individual applications filed by Russian citizens between 2007 and 2024 over violations of their rights by the Russian government. In its decision, the Court stated that the applications in question “do not appear to raise issues of marked importance”.



Among the individuals whose applications were summarily dismissed by the Court are the late founder of the Anticorruption Foundation, Alexei Navalny, who was murdered in 2024; and the deputy leader of the Yabloko Party, Lev Shlosberg, who was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison for speaking out against the war in Ukraine.

While Russian Federation was expelled from the Council of Europe in March 2022 over its full‑scale aggression against Ukraine, the European Court of Human Rights retains jurisdiction over all violations of the European Convention on Human Rights that occurred in Russia before 16 September 2022 — and Russia remains legally bound by the Court’s judgments. Given this clear legal obligation, the Court’s decision is puzzling.

This decision also, in effect, means the denial of justice to hundreds of Russian citizens whose rights have been violated by Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship. With all respect to the Court, Free Russia Foundation calls on the judges to reconsider their decision.


https://www.4freerussia.org/press-center/free-russia-foundation-urges-the-european-court-of-human-rights-to-reconsider-its-dismissal-of-879-russian-applications