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 been subject to seven such arrests in 2012 and in 2014 and that at least two of those arrests had been designed to suppress political pluralism.

"The court found that there was 'converging contextual evidence' that the authorities were becoming increasingly severe toward Mr. Navalny and that his allegation of being a particular target appeared coherent in the context of a general move to bring the opposition under control," it said in a statement.

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

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

Prominent opposition figure

Navalny, Russia's best-known opposition leader, was barred from running against Vladimir Putin in a presidential election earlier this year and has been repeatedly jailed for organizing what the authorities say are illegal protests.

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

Russia's representative to the ECHR, Deputy Justice Minister Mikhail Galperin, argued during a hearing earlier this year that​ Navalny's arrests were all justified and that his unauthorized rallies put public security at risk. He suggested Navalny staged his arrests to get media attention.

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

Navalny, who was in Strasbourg for the ruling, welcomed the court's decision. He said he was delighted it had ruled his treatment had been politically motivated, something it has not done in a case concerning Russia for many years.

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

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

Russia questions 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 the ruling when he was initially prevented from flying out of Moscow on Tuesday over an unpaid court fine. He said the fine been suddenly and illegally enforced as a pretext to stop him travelling abroad.

He flew out of Moscow on Wednesday after the Federal Bailiffs Service rescinded the travel ban, saying Navalny had paid the fine.

Navalny's legal team said Moscow could not appeal what is a final and binding ruling that is likely to strain already poor 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.