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Court: New case against Navalny – ECtHR condemns Russia

Court: New case against Navalny – ECtHR condemns Russia

In Strasbourg before the European Court of Human Rights, the Russian opposition activist Alexej Navalny achieved a symbolic victory. At the same time, he is being tried again in prison in Russia.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has sentenced Russia to a fine for failing to investigate a poison attack against Alexei Navalny. Meanwhile, the imprisoned Kremlin critic faces many more years in prison in a new trial in Russia.

The new court case for alleged extremism against Navalny began in Russia on Tuesday with a closed-door preliminary hearing. “It’s impossible to see or hear the court,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch wrote on Twitter about the preliminary hearing, which was being held around 260 kilometers northeast of Moscow in Navalny’s penal colony. Journalists were therefore denied access to a preparatory meeting before the actual trial began.

No one is allowed on the territory of the detention center, said Ivan Zhdanov, director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund. “The process is completely closed.” Zhdanov documented his statements with a photo on his Telegram channel, which is supposed to show the fence of the penal colony. A poster can be seen on it that prohibits photography and filming.

Jarmysch later announced that the actual start of the trial had been postponed to June 19. According to her, the trial should then be public – but will continue to take place in prison.

Navalny in prison for more than two years

Navalny has been in prison for more than two years. He was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in Siberia in the summer of 2020 and arrested in January 2021 at a Moscow airport after returning from Germany, where he was treated after the poison attack.

Navalny is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for alleged fraud. The public prosecutor’s office has now started a new trial with a total of seven charges – including the founding and financing of an extremist organization. If found guilty, the 47-year-old faces up to 30 years in prison. Internationally, the best-known domestic political opponent of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is considered a political prisoner.

The ECtHR, meanwhile, has condemned Russia for insufficient investigation into the 2020 poisoning of Navalny. The court in Strasbourg complained that a political motive for the attempted murder and a possible involvement of state agents had not been considered. Navalny barely survived the attack. He accuses the Russian domestic secret service FSB of being behind the poisoning. The authority denies this.

Investigations by Russian authorities, according to the court, incomprehensible

The ECHR has now ruled unanimously that Navalny’s right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. The investigations of the Russian authorities are incomprehensible. Navalny’s right to participate in the process was also not taken into account. Russia was therefore ordered to pay 40,000 euros in damages. However, Putin has already announced that he will no longer recognize the judgments of the Court of Human Rights.

Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe because of its war of aggression against Ukraine. It is therefore no longer a member of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the Court of Justice ensures is observed. Several thousand lawsuits against Russia are still pending at the Human Rights Court. The Council of Europe, the Human Rights Convention and the Court of Justice are independent of the EU.

Twitter Jarmysh (Russian) Telegram Zhdanov (Russian) Press release ECtHR

Source: Stern

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