Through interviews with 40 human rights practitioners, this dissertation broadens our knowledge as to how international litigation before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) (a) contributes to finding remedies for victims of grave atrocities and (b) impacts on the compliance of Russia to the European Convention on Human Rights. In particular, this dissertation examines the work of a group of nongovernmental human rights organizations (NGOs), and the lawyers working for them, who litigate at the ECtHR on behalf of victims of the Russo-Chechen conflicts, discrimination based on ethnicity, or victims of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment during police detention. This research examines the diffusion of human rights by connecting four previously unconnected social processes of international human rights practice: claim-making, translation, implementation, and protection. First, the influence of the political context on litigation strategies, second, the translation of human rights from the claims of the victim to the Court and vice versa, and third, the contention surrounding the implementation and search for domestic remedies following litigation. A fourth process evaluates the issue of protection in Russia: how human rights defenders manage risk and practice advocacy in a dangerous environment.