Navalny vs. Russia: European court finds political motive in opposition figure’s arrests
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has deemed several detentions of Russian opposition activist Alexey Navalny as “politically motivated ”and ordered Moscow to pay him damages.
The court announced its ruling on Thursday, ending the case which has been dragging on for years. The Grand Chamber ruled that several arrests, detentions and administrative convictions, that the Kremlin critic Navalny endured back in 2012-2014 were politically motivated.
The Chamber upheld an earlier ruling of the ECHR, announced in February 2017, which awarded the activist €50,000 ($56,500) for “moral damage,” €1,000 ($1,100) for material damage, and some €12,600 ($14,200) to cover court expenses. Back then, both the Russian government and Navalny himself asked the court to refer the case to the Chamber. While Moscow challenged the ruling as a whole, Navalny was unhappy that the court did not find a political motive in his detention.
Now, the opposition figure seems to be fully satisfied with the court’s decision, as well as with the supposed “real justice” he experienced in the ECHR.
“The government suffered a crushing defeat,” Navalny boasted on Twitter.
Navalny’s road to Europe, however, proved to be quite bumpy, as the Russian Bailiffs Service barred him from leaving the country on Tuesday over an unpaid debt. It turned out that the activist had an outstanding court order to pay just over 2.1 million rubles ($31,000). Navalny promptly paid off the debt and the restrictions against him were lifted.
The court order originated from a criminal case against Navalny over a fraudulent scheme involving timber in the Kirov region. Apart from that, he – and his brother Oleg – were defendants in another white-collar criminal case, involving embezzlement from the international cosmetics giant Yves Rocher. Both cases resulted in suspended sentences for Navalny.
READ MORE: European Human Rights Court sees no politics in Navalny brothers embezzlement case
The activist tried to challenge a Russian court’s ruling on the Yves Case with the ECHR last year. While the court blamed Moscow for depriving the Navalny brothers of a fair trial and the right to lawful punishment, it did not deem the whole embezzlement case to be politically motivated.
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