Alexey Navalny
Western countries should end the practice of double standards, which are visible in the situation with the founder of the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK, included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent) Alexei Navalny. This opinion was expressed by political scientist and researcher at Oxford University Samuel Ramani in a column for Gazeta.Ru.
According to Ramani, the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Navalny case is a clear example of double standards. The demand to release him from prison contradicts the practices and principles of the court itself, and “has become dangerous both for legal practice and for the international system,” the expert points out.
The political scientist explained that earlier the ECHR refused to apply similar measures to Ukrainian citizens Nadezhda Savchenko and Oleg Sentsov, although there was a real threat to their lives because of the hunger strikes. “The ECHR is turning from a human rights mechanism into an instrument of political pressure, which creates dangerous precedents,” Ramani notes.
The expert believes that this politicization is based on the desire of the new US President Joe Biden to reset relations with the European Union. At the same time, the figure of Navalny is also suitable in order to emphasize the anti-Russian orientation of American foreign policy. “The case should indicate that the United States remains a leader in international relations, can influence institutions and even the decisions of the ECHR, and also have the right to continue to interfere in the affairs of other states,” he writes.
At the same time, attempts to destabilize the situation in Russia and pressure on the country will only lead to the opposite effect, Ramani is sure. According to him, “Moscow will become even tougher” and will strengthen the anti-Western rhetoric in response.
Earlier, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova called the EU's decision to expand the sanctions list in the Navalny case as a circus. On February 22, it became known that the Council of the European Union decided to impose sanctions against persons associated with the conviction of Navalny.
In early February, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow replaced Navalny's suspended sentence with a real one for violating the conditions for observing the probationary period in the Yves Rocher case. He was charged with 60 violations and sentenced to 3 years 6 months in a colony. Taking into account the year spent under house arrest during the preliminary investigation of the case, he will stay in the colony for 2 years and 8 months.
After that, the ECHR demanded that Navalny be released from custody. The appeal was filed on January 20, even before the suspended sentence was replaced with a real one. It was formulated on the basis of the 39th rule of the rules of the European Court, according to which interim measures are a prohibition to the state of actions that may cause significant damage to the life and health of the applicant, or an instruction to the state to do something to avoid such damage.
