ST. PETERSBURG, April 19 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – The Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that the claim of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to grant voting rights  to inmates may be partially satisfied in Russia, RAPSI learnt in the court’s press office.

Earlier, the Judicial Ministry turned to the Constitutional Court because of the ECHR ruling in “Anchugov and Gladkov vs. Russia” case. ECHR ruled that prohibition to vote for prisoners is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Constitutional Court stressed that Russia is a part of European legal framework which stipulates equitable dialog and willingness to compromise.

The Court granted the ECHR ruling “in terms of general actions aimed to ensure justice, proportionality and differentiation in restriction of inmates’ voting rights,” according to court records.

The Constitutional Court held that the legislature is entitled to change certain regimes of confinement, in particular imprisonment in a penal settlement, by alternative punishment which does not lead to restriction of voting rights.

However, the Constitutional Court declined to grant the ECHR demand to give voting rights to all convicts deprived of liberty. Russian nationals Sergey Anchugov and Vladimir Gladkov have been each sentenced to the death penalty, later changed to a 15-year imprisonment, for commission of particularly serious crimes. Anchugov has been convicted of murder, theft and fraud; Gladkov has been condemned for murder, robbery and participation in organized crime group. Therefore, the men a priori could not expect that they would gain voting rights, according to court records.

Russian Constitution is consistent in this matter with international legal acts including the European Convention on Human Rights, Сhairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin stated.