On 25 February 2022 the Committee of Ministers decided to launch the procedure provided by Article 8 of the Statute that allows to expulse a member of the Council of Europe for serious violation of the rule of law and human rights, and to suspend Russia from its rights of representation in the Committee of Ministers and in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. On 16 March 2022, in an extraordinary meeting, the Committee of Ministers decided that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe, after 26 years of membership (see press release athttps://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/the-russian-federation-is-excluded-from-the-council-of-europe

Following this Resolution, the Court decidedto suspend the examination of all applications against the Russian Federation pending its consideration of the legal consequences of this Resolution for the work of the Court.

This means that Russia no longer is part of the European Convention of Human Rights, and therefore can no longer be held accountable for violations of that Convention by the European Court of Human Rights.