European Court of Human Rights: repeated arrests of Navalny politically driven
516 views · Published 20 November 2018 · 2:03 · Indexed 16 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(15 Nov 2018) The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Russian authorities' arrests of opposition leader Alexei Navalny were politically motivated, a decision that could embolden Kremlin critics. Navalny hailed the ruling as an example of "genuine justice" and said it is an important signal for many people in Russia who face arbitrary detentions for their political activities. The court's highest chamber found that Russian authorities violated multiple human rights in detaining Navalny seven times from 2012 to 2014, and that two of the arrests were expressly aimed at "suppressing political pluralism." It ordered Russia to pay Navalny 63,000 euros (71,000 US dollars) in damages, and called on Russia to fix legislation regaridng the right to peaceful assembly. The ruling is final and binding on Russia as a member of the Council of Europe, the continent's human rights watchdog. Navalny, arguably Russian President Vladimir Putin's most serious foe, has faced fraud charges widely viewed as political retribution for investigating corruption and leading major anti-government protests. He has spent a total of more than 140 days behind bars in the past year and a half. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0f423987b9271e13a5f367926d338a68
