Europe’s top human rights court has ordered Russia to release jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a ruling quickly rejected by Russian authorities who are bent on isolating the Kremlin’s most prominent foe.
The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that was posted on Mr Navalny’s website on Wednesday demands that Russia set him free immediately and warns that failing to do so would mark a breach of the European human rights convention.
Russia’s justice minister dismissed the court’s demand as “unfounded and unlawful”.
Mr Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption investigator and president Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, was arrested last month on his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusation.
Russia rejects European human rights court s order to free Navalny
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European human rights court demands Russia release Navalny
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