Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland said on Wednesday there were positive indications that Russia would give the green light to the reform of the Strasbourg Court by ratifying the 14th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Jagland, who was elected the new secretary general of the Council of Europe in late September, began his first visit to Russia on Monday in his current position.
On Wednesday, he discussed the ratification of the human rights protocol by Russia President Dmitry Medvedev. Earlier, ex-Norwegian premier Jagland met with the speaker of the lower house of Russia's parliament, Boris Gryzlov, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia is the only member of the Council of Europe that has not ratified the document, without which the reform of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg cannot start.
Jagland said after the talks with his Russian colleagues that problems, which had prevented the start of the Court reform, were resolved and a ratification process resumed.
He said the main goal of the reform was to assure more effective work in the Court. However, he said, it would be impossible if Russia does not ratify the protocol.
The ratification of the document would be a serious step towards the creation of a common legal space, he added.
A few years ago, the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, said a number of the protocol's provisions are out of line with Russian laws, but recently Medvedev said some contentious issues have been agreed upon with European partners and discussions of the document could resume.
MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti)
