On Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s human rights advisers said that human right issues in Russia had not been a priority for the Kremlin government according to Agence France Presse.

The president’s human rights council, comprised of 30 experts and NGO leaders, was created by Medvedev in 2009 to aid in fostering reform and civil society.

Journalist Svetlana Sorokina and Irina Yasina said in December that “Three years of working on the council… convinced us that respect for rights and freedoms of Russian citizens is not a priority for the president and his team.”

Yelena Panfilova, council member and head of Russia’sTransparency International said, “We receive dozens of letters from people, but bureaucrats don’t exactly rush to solve them.”

Council head Mikhai Fedetov said that the advice of his council for reforms initiated by Medvedev were often ignored, adding that Medvedev had accused his council of being politically motivated and of only focusing on high profile cases, like that of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Several prominent members of the human rights council have resigned since its inception saying that they no longer see the point of continuing.