Russia accuses Human Rights Court of double standards

16 Jan, 2007 02:47 / Updated 17 years ago

Pavel Laptev, Russia's envoy to the European Court of Human Rights, is accusing the body of double standards following the court's decision to deny a Russian family the right to live in Latvia.

The Sysoyevs were left 'stateless' when the Soviet Union collapsed and were asked to leave. The court agreed their human rights had not been violated. Pavel Laptev, though, claimed the decision was politically influenced.“This decision shows the continuing politicisation of the European Human Rights court. This can be seen both in some extracts of the ruling and the overall decision of the court. On the whole, we see a double approach and double standards applied by the European Human Rights Court to Russia,” Mr Laptev said.