ECtHR: Russia guilty of torture and inhuman treatment of oppositionist

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has issued a judgment on the complaint filed by Alexei Navalny in 2021 following his arrest in Russia. The court found that by arresting the oppositionist – who died in a labor camp in 2024 – Russia had violated the right to life as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ECtHR unanimously found that the articles relating to the right to life, the right to liberty and personal security, as well as the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment had been violated.

Navalny was arrested at Moscow airport on January 17, 2021, when he returned to Russia from treatment in Germany following a poisoning attempt. He has been imprisoned since then. The authorities “suspended” his 2014 sentence and then initiated further criminal cases against him, resulting in sentences totaling more than 30 years in prison.

The ECtHR emphasized in Tuesday's ruling that the verdict against Navalny, handed down in 2014, was a “gross violation of the right to a fair trial.” The Court had already found that judgment in 2017 to be contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, which is why Navalny filed a complaint against the actions of the Russian authorities in 2021. His complaint also concerned the conditions of detention, insufficient medical assistance and the political motives of his imprisonment.

The judges emphasized in Tuesday's ruling that Russia had disregarded the ECtHR's 2017 judgment. Despite Navalny's near-fatal poisoning in 2020, the Russian courts that ordered his subsequent arrest and imprisonment did not take into account his fears for his life and health.

“Moreover, at the time of his arrest, Navalny was a victim of several forms of ill-treatment which, taken together, demonstrated systematic disregard of his health, well-being and dignity and amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment,” the Court found.

After “suspending” Navalny's 2014 sentence, the Russian authorities imposed subsequent sentences on Navalny, providing for a total of over 30 years of imprisonment. At the end of 2023, the oppositionist was transferred from prison to a harsh penal colony in the Russian Far North. On February 16, 2024, prison authorities announced his death.

In 2022 (after its invasion of Ukraine), Russia announced that it was leaving the Council of Europe and unilaterally refused to implement the judgments of the ECtHR. In mid-September 2022, it ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the Council of Europe found that the Strasbourg court still has jurisdiction to hear complaints against Russia submitted before September 2022.

Anna Wróbel (PAP)

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