This ruling comes against a backdrop of a Russian justice system that does little to allow Russian citizens to sue the government for arbitrary actions. A holdover from previous Tsarist and Soviet days, the relative lack of responsibility that officials enjoy has been a constant source of criticism from human rights watchers in Russia. The Court's decision seems to be an attempt by the Court to finally address this problem and pressure the legislature into building a real framework for holding the actions of Russian officialdom to account. The real question, as with many questions in Russia, is whether this ruling will be enforced. In other words, will the Russian legislature pass laws that ensure that people detained by police have recourse to sue the government.
It seems unlikely. The Russian President's permanent representative on the Court Mikhail Krotov sought to downplay these detentions hinting that they were not a big deal: "If the police ruin someone's suit or hold them for three hours - is this really serious damage?" He went on to say that the Court had overstepped its bounds in suggesting to lawmakers how to legislate. Given the power that the Russian presidency has over the Parliament and the executive branches of power, major changes seem unlikely in the future.
However, even given this, glimmers of change do seem to be on the horizon.
The Russian prosecutors office (prokuratura) supported the Court's decision, arguing that every person who is detained illegally should have the right to challenge this detention in court.
Thus, there does seem to be some growing support for the creation of a real mechanism for administrative justice in Russia.
