The former Russian president recalled recent scandalous revelations about the ECHR
File photo: George Soros addresses the assembly on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 24, 2022. © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
American billionaire George Soros has influenced many judges at the European Court of Human Rights, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum about the problems of modern judiciary.
An independent investigation in 2020 revealed that 22 out of 100 ECHR judges who served between 2009 and 2019 had “strong ties” to Soros, whether through his Open Society Foundation or intermediary NGOs that received its funding.
“For many years, these judges literally ate out of his hand and, on direction from across the ocean, stamped biased court verdicts – which, by the way, have not been revised even after these corruption scandals,” said Medvedev. After serving as president (2008-2012) and prime minister (2012-2020) of Russia, he is now deputy chairman of the national security council.
Russia withdrew from all treaties accepting ECHR jurisdiction in September 2022, and the law declaring all of the court’s verdicts null and void on its territory went into effect in March.
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For all the talk of freedom and competition, Medvedev said, the West does what it wants while placing discriminatory prohibitions on others. International economic law has become “pure fiction,” as evidenced by the “lawless predatory measures” against Russian state, corporate and private property, and even the confiscation of diplomatic accounts.
Medvedev also addressed the International Criminal Court, which in March charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with “war crimes” for evacuating children from under Ukrainian shelling. He called the ICC’s warrant for Putin’s arrest a “casus belli,” a reason for war against any country that tries to carry it out.
He also described the ICC as a “political tool of warmongers” and a “worthy heir” to the ICTY, the ad-hoc war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which he called an “ugly form of justice that brought nothing but disaster” and discredited international law.
“There is no reason to obey the decisions of legal structures that have completely discredited or outlived themselves,” Medvedev argued. “If judiciary institutions do not function, they will be replaced by others that do.”
If international conventions are not applied, and the court decisions recognized by countries are not implemented, then tube and rocket artillery take their place. And even hypersonic missiles.
Russia’s patience is not infinite, and every compromise has a limit after which it becomes a threat to security and sovereignty, added Medvedev.
