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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses reporters at the end of a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights regarding his case against Russia, last Thursday before the court of Strasbourg (France). (Patrick Seeger / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock)
MOSCOW – The highest European court of European human rights has ruled that the arrests in Russia of anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny were motivated by political considerations.
Upper House of the European Court of Human Rights Seven arrests of Navalny between 2012 and 2014, between 2012 and 2014, violated his rights and appeared to be part of a broader effort to "control the opposition". greater legal rights for people who demonstrate peacefully.
The Russian government has no immediate comment. Although Russia is one of the 47 countries in the court's jurisdiction, it has found ways to avoid complying with court decisions in the past.
Nevertheless, the decision was significant and far-reaching than many of the Court's previous rulings against Russia. He endorsed the position of Navalny, perhaps the most vocal and well-organized critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin inside Russia. And unlike a lower house that issued an opinion last year, the court found that Navalny's arrests were motivated by political considerations.
Referring to the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights, the court concludes beyond reasonable doubt that two of the arrests were aimed at "suppressing political pluralism as part of an effective political democracy". "governed by" the rule of law "."
"The Court called on Russia to put in place a legal mechanism enabling the authorities to take due account of the fundamental importance of the right to peaceful assembly and to show the necessary tolerance for unauthorized peaceful gatherings", declared a press release announcing the verdict.
Navalny called the decision a "big win". He said he expected a narrower decision that did not determine that his arrests were motivated by political considerations.
"This has a huge significance, not even for me, but for a considerable number of people all over Russia who are regularly arrested and put in jail for clearly political reasons," Navalny said in a blog post. "The Russian government has always been able to say: even the ECHR does not consider these cases as political. They can not do it anymore. "
Navalny has spent more than four months behind bars in the last two years, serving 30 days or less at a time, mainly for organizing unauthorized protests. Analysts say such arrests allow the Kremlin to disrupt Navalny's efforts to create an anti-Putin sentiment while avoiding the outcry that would result if he were sentenced to longer prison terms.
Navalny, who has created a large online audience with viral videos highlighting corruption within Russia's ruling elite, has been barred from running for presidential elections earlier this year. But he has set up a national network of campaign offices that has demonstrated his ability to stage protests across the country, including rallies in September against Putin's unpopular plan to raise the retirement age.
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