The foreign ministers of the G7 countries have called on the Russian authorities to release Alexei Navalny. RIA Novosti reports.
The high representative of the European Union also joined the statement. The applicants condemned Navalny's arrest and noted that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) did not uphold the court's decisions, for the failure to comply with which he was detained. “We call on the Russian authorities for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Navalny,” the document says.
The G7 Foreign Ministers and the EU High Representative also expressed concern about the detention of participants in the unauthorized actions that took place on 23 January. They stressed that they will continue to closely monitor Russia's reaction to international calls regarding this situation.
In the afternoon of January 23, uncoordinated actions took place in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia in support of Alexei Navalny, who was arrested on January 18 for repeated violations of the conditions for observing the probationary period in the Yves Rocher case. In 2014, Navalny was sentenced to 3 years 6 months of suspended imprisonment with a fine of 500 thousand rubles for fraud. The court later extended the probationary period for a year. At the same time, in 2020, multiple violations of the conditions of the probationary period were recorded by the convict – he had to appear for registration at the UFSIN inspection twice a month.
