MOSCOW (AP) – Europe’s higher court has ordered Russia to release jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a decision quickly rejected by Russian authorities on Wednesday who are determined to isolate the Kremlin’s most prominent enemy.
The decision of the European Court of Human Rights had called on Russia to release Navalny immediately and warned that non-compliance would violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Russian justice minister rejected the court’s request as “unfounded and illegal”, and the foreign ministry denounced it as part of the Western meddling in the country’s internal affairs.
Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption investigator and the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was arrested last month on his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nervous breakdown he blames. Kremlin. The Russian authorities rejected the accusation.
Earlier this month, a Moscow court sentenced Navalny to two years and eight months in prison for violating probation during his recovery in Germany. The sentence comes from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny rejected as fabricated, and the European court ruled it was illegal.
In Tuesday’s decision, the ECHR indicated Rule 39 of its regulations and ordered the Russian Government to release Navalny, citing “the nature and degree of risk to the applicant’s life”.
“This measure will take effect immediately,” the Strasbourg court said.
The court noted that Navalny challenged the Russian authorities’ argument that they had taken sufficient measures to protect his life and well-being in custody following the nerve agent’s attack.
Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuichenko dismissed the court’s ruling as “clear and cruel interference” in the Russian judiciary.
“This request is unfounded and illegal because it does not indicate any fact or legal rule that would allow the court to issue such a verdict,” Chuichenko said in a statement by Russian news agencies. “This request cannot be fulfilled because there is no legal reason for that person to be released from custody in accordance with Russian law. Knowing this well, European judges have clearly taken a political decision that could only exacerbate the restoration of constructive relations with the institutions of the Council of Europe. ”
In the past, Moscow has complied with ECHR judgments awarding compensation to Russian citizens who have challenged verdicts in Russian courts, but has never faced the European court’s request to release a convict.
As a reflection of its hot irritation with the European Court’s verdicts, Russia adopted a constitutional amendment last year declaring national law a priority over international law. The Russian authorities could now use this provision to reject the ECHR ruling.
Mikhail Yemelyanov, deputy head of the Kremlin-controlled lower house in the lower house of parliament, stressed the constitutional change, saying it gives Russia the right to overrule the ECHR ruling, according to Interfax news agency.
But Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, has argued that Russia’s membership of the Council of Europe obliges it to comply with the court’s ruling. He warned on Facebook that the country risks losing its membership of the best human rights organization on the continent if it does not comply with the order.
Navalny’s arrest and imprisonment fueled a wave of protests across Russia. Authorities responded with a crackdown, detaining about 11,000 people, many of whom were fined or sentenced to between seven and 15 days in prison.
Russia has rejected Western criticism of Navalny’s arrest and crackdown on demonstrations as interference in its internal affairs.
In a televised statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the ECHR’s decision as a blow to international law and “part of a campaign to put pressure on our country and interfere in our country’s internal affairs.”
A court hearing is scheduled for Saturday on Navalny’s appeal for his sentence.
He also faced legal proceedings in a separate case on charges of defaming a World War II veteran. Navalny, who called the 94-year-old veteran and others featured in a pro-Kremlin video “corrupt stoogs,” “unconscious people,” and “traitors,” dismissed the libel allegations and described them as part of it. of official efforts to despise him.
With his usual sardonic humor, Navalny compared the conditions of the Matrosskaya Tishina prison in Moscow with maximum security to the isolation of a space traveler.
“People in uniform who come to me say only a few sentences, a lamp indicating a functional video camera is seen on their chest – it looks exactly like androids,” he said in remarks posted on Instagram. “And just like in a movie about space travel, the ship’s command center communicates with me. An intercom voice would say, “3-0-2, get ready for medical treatment.” And I would answer, “OK, just give me 10 minutes to finish my tea.” ”