Russian investigation into Navalny poisoning is inadequate, European court rules

On 6 June, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Russia for failing to properly investigate the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020, which the West says was an assassination attempt.

This Strasbourg, France-based court said that Russia had apparently “failed to investigate allegations of a possible political motive for the assassination attempt, as well as the possible involvement of state agents”, and unanimously concluded that Russia had violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

The published statement said that Russia had refused to initiate criminal proceedings over the poisoning that put Navalny into a coma.

The anti-corruption opposition activist, seen by his supporters as a potential political rival to Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on the flight from Siberia.

He was later evacuated to Germany, where he recovered, but was arrested shortly after his return to Moscow and has been in prison ever since.

The court found that tests carried out by the German government had revealed “clear evidence” of the presence of the chemical poison Novichok in Navalny’s body.

The Court also stated that the Russian investigation into the case was not open and that Navalny was not allowed to cooperate.

The investigation “did not lead to the verification of the relevant facts, as well as to the identification and, if necessary, the punishment of the persons responsible”, the court said.

“Therefore, (the investigation) cannot be considered adequate,” the court concluded.

Russia was ordered to pay Navalny 40,000 euros in damages.

The European Court of Human Rights is part of the pan-European human rights body, the Council of Europe, from which Russia was expelled after last year’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, the court reported that there are still a large number of cases brought by Russian citizens prior to Russia’s expulsion from the Council of Europe and said it would continue to investigate and rule on these cases.

This court says that Russia is legally obliged to implement the ECHR’s decisions in relation to cases brought before 16 September 2022./RSE/