Kremlin critic Navalny was political prisoner, says European court

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that Russia's repeated arrests and detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny were politically motivated and breached his human rights, a decision Moscow called questionable.

The court, based in Strasbourg, said Navalny had beensubject to seven such arrests in 2012 and in 2014 and that atleast two of those arrests had been designed to suppresspolitical pluralism.

"The court found that there was 'converging contextualevidence' that the authorities were becoming increasingly severetoward Mr.Navalny and that his allegation of being a particulartarget appeared coherent in the context of a general move tobring the opposition under control," it said in a statement.

It ordered Russia to pay around $95,000indamages and costs to Navalny, saying his right to liberty, afair trial and freedom of assembly had been violated.

In a rebuke that Russia is likely to regard as interferencein its internal affairs, the court also recommended that Moscowact to ensure the right to peaceful assembly is upheld.

Prominent opposition figure

Navalny, Russia's best-known opposition leader, wasbarred from running against Vladimir Putin in a presidentialelection earlier this year and has been repeatedly jailed fororganizing what the authorities say are illegal protests.

Putin, who makes a point of never saying Navalny's namein public, has suggested that he is backed by the United States,something the 42-year old lawyer and blogger denies.

Russia's representative to theECHR, Deputy Justice Minister MikhailGalperin, argued during a hearing earlier this year thatNavalny'sarrests were all justified and that his unauthorizedrallies put public security at risk. He suggestedNavalnystaged hisarrests to get media attention.

Navalny has tried to mobilize supporters with a series ofinvestigations exposing official corruption that have beenwatched online by millions of Russians.

Navalny, who was in Strasbourg for the ruling, welcomed thecourt's decision. He said he was delighted it had ruled histreatment had been politically motivated, something it has notdone in a case concerning Russia for many years.

"It is very important not just for me but also for otherpeople all over Russia who are arrested in the same way everyday," he told reporters.

"Despite pressure from Russia, it has become clear ... thatEuropean justice does not intend to ignore obvious facts," he said.

Russiaquestions ruling

Russia's Justice Ministry questioned what it portrayed as the flawed and inconsistent logic of the ruling, but said it would pay the court-ordered damages and costs, the Interfax news agency reported.

Navalny had difficulties getting to Strasbourg for theruling when he was initially prevented from flying out of Moscowon Tuesday over an unpaid court fine. He said the fine beensuddenly and illegally enforced as a pretext to stop himtravelling abroad.

He flew out of Moscow on Wednesday after the FederalBailiffs Service rescinded the travel ban, saying Navalny hadpaid the fine.

Navalny's legal team said Moscow could not appeal whatis a final and binding ruling that is likely to strain alreadypoor relations between Russia and the Strasbourg-based court.

Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, said the ruling raised questions about the court's objectivity.

"The ECHR is increasingly becoming a tool to pressure our country," Slutsky wrote on social media.

About a third of the court's cases last year involved Russia, and of 305 judgments concerning Russia in 2017, 293 found at least one rights violation.