The European Court is powerless to stop Russia

Last Thursday saw a wry twist to the Ukraine war. The European Court of Human Rights solemnly intoned that Russia should stop the execution of two Englishmen condemned to death in the Donetsk People’s Republic for fighting for Ukraine. It knew perfectly well it was screaming into the void. Russia, though technically in the ECHR till September, had said it would ignore any of the court’s orders; and there is no doubt whatsoever that the People’s Republic will do exactly the same.

This is not the first time the court has raised eyebrows by issuing peremptory declarations of this kind. Just under three weeks ago, a plane was about to take off carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda. The English courts had refused to grant any injunction. The Strasbourg court – or rather a single unnamed duty judge attached to it – thought differently. At the last minute the court said it would be wrong for the government to halt the removal of one of the men, until the human rights or wrongs of the case were sorted out.