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‘There is no place for you’: Russia quits Council of Europe hours before vote to expel
The Council of Europe has unanimously voted to suspend Russia's membership hours after the federation gave formal notice of its withdrawal from the human rights watchdog. On Tuesday Russia quit the Council of Europe, pre-empting a vote on its expulsion from the continent's leading human rights body over its attack on Ukraine, according to Reuters. It is only the second country to leave the group since the watchdog's formation post World War II – the other was Greece in 1969, however, they rejoined five years later. The Council of Europe proceeded to vote on its expulsion and the opinion was passed unanimously: 216 in favour, none against and three abstentions. Parliamentary Assembly President Tiny Kox said the human rights body was "sad" but "glad" to vote for the Russian Federation's suspension from its ranks. "We are of course sad that we, today, had to ask ... to expel a member of our organisation, which has been a member for over 25 years, but I am glad that we dared to do it," Mr Kox told assembly members. "It is clear: if you cross red lines, then there is no place for you in this organisation." The human rights convention will now no longer apply to Russia and the country's citizens will no longer be able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against their own government.
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