violation of the right to life
Russia convicted of Navalny investigation
6/6/2023 1:06 p.m
In 2020, Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny fell victim to a poison attack. The European Court of Justice now considers the subsequent investigations by Russia to be insufficient and sentences the country to 40,000 euros in damages.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has condemned Russia over insufficient investigation into the 2020 poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei 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.
President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok during a trip to Siberia in the summer of 2020. He barely survived. Navalny accuses the Russian domestic secret service FSB of being behind the poisoning. The authorities deny this.
After treatment in Germany, he returned to Russia despite the threat of arrest. That’s how it happened. He is currently serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian penal camp. He has already served two years of it. In a new trial, however, he is now threatened with another 30 years in prison.
Russian investigations “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 Convention on Human Rights and the Court of Justice are independent of the EU.