The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has condemned Russia for insufficient investigation into the 2020 poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The Strasbourg court complained on Tuesday that a political motive for the assassination attempt and the possible involvement of state agents had not been considered. The opposition leader was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok during a trip to Siberia.
Navalny survived only thanks to a quick transfer and treatment at the Charité Hospital in Berlin. Navalny accuses the Russian domestic secret service FSB of being behind the poisoning and has collected several documents with the help of Western investigative journalists. Authorities deny this.
Nawahlny returned to Russia after treatment despite the threat of arrest. That’s how it happened. He is serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian penal camp. He’s already served two years of that. In a new trial, set to begin on Tuesday, he now faces another 30 years in prison.
The ECHR has now unanimously ruled that Navalny’s right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been violated. Investigations by Russian authorities are mind-boggling. Navalny’s right to participate in the process was also not taken into account. Russia was therefore ordered to pay €40,000 in damages. However, the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir 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 respect for. Several thousand cases against Russia are still pending before the Court of Human Rights. The Council of Europe, the Convention on Human Rights and the Court of Justice are independent of the EU.