The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday sentenced Russia to pay 40,000 euros to Alexei Navalny for the “lack of an effective investigation” of the poisoning case of that opponent in 2020.
The judges who decided to pay 40,000 euros condemned the Vladimir Putin regime for “moral damage” that affected Navalny.
Russia was barred from the European Court of Human Rights in September last year following the invasion of Ukraine, but the court could still be asked to rule on Moscow for acts committed before 2022.
The Court, the legal authority of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, applies the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the sentence, the seven judges unanimously considered “that there was indeed a serious and imminent risk to Navalny’s life in suspicious circumstances”, forcing the Russian state to open an investigation into the facts.
In August 2020, the Russian opponent was poisoned with a toxic substance manufactured during the Soviet era (novitchok) “before falling into a coma,” the court recalled.
Tests carried out in Russia concluded that no toxic substances were found in Navalny’s body, which was eventually transferred to Germany, where he was treated.
German doctors “undoubtedly” detected the toxic substance manufactured by the former Soviet Union for military purposes.
The same conclusion was confirmed by laboratories in France and Sweden.
Novichok is a prohibited substance (weapon) under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the court noted.
Under these conditions, Moscow was forced to “open a criminal investigation into any activity contrary to the ban on chemical weapons.”
While not accusing the Russian secret services of being responsible for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the court stressed that “the development and use of these chemicals requires time, skill and a level of organization that people without connections to public authorities are unlikely to could reach.” .
The Strasbourg, France-based court said Navalny “is a political opposition figure whose activism, particularly in the fight against corruption, has led on several occasions to arrests, detentions, criminal convictions and ill-treatment, and ( . .. ) who had reason to allege that he was being persecuted for political reasons”.
Alexei Navalny, 47, is under arrest after declaring last Sunday that he is “in a good mood despite the conditions in which he is being held,” the non-governmental organization OVD-Info reported.
He is due to stand trial soon in Russia on extremism charges, where he could face up to 35 years in prison.
Imprisoned since January 2021, the day he returned to Russia, he considers the new trial a way for the regime to keep him imprisoned “for life.”
In March 2021, Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison on fraud charges that he believes were fabricated.
Source: TSF
