DISINFO: ECHR's decisions are not binding for Russia, Navalny is mentally ill
SUMMARY
We observed two absolutely parallel realities. In one reality, there is Navalny, who is convinced that the European Court of Human Rights found him innocent, and everything that happens here are screams -” we poison you, but you do not die, we put you in prison and you don’t go to prison”. But this has nothing to do with reality. And secondly, this is what actually happened. For repeated violations of the law by the oppositionist, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow had to decide whether the suspended conviction of 3.5 years, which had been passed on him earlier, should be replaced by a real term. That’s all.
Operation “Navalny” was completed at the moment when his data was foolishly published in the Lancet. And there was lithium in his blood. Nobody explained where the lithium comes from. How can a person be a leader of the opposition when he is psychiatrically, mentally unhealthy? And therefore he can be used in the only remaining way – through a scandal, through new sanctions for Russia. Through screams about a political prisoner, which Macron hints at.
But the case that was considered today, or rather yesterday, has nothing to do with politics at all. The Yves Rocher case was not recognised as political by the European Court of Human Rights, which has no right to rule on the merits. We think so. The Europeans are confident that Russia has surrendered its judicial sovereignty and the decisions of the ECHR, judging by what they write, are higher than ours.
RESPONSE
Disinformation around Alexei Navalny and the latest court case against him. Contrary to the claims in the article, decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) are binding for Russia as it ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in 1998.
On 30 December 2014, Navalny and his brother were found guilty of money laundering and of defrauding the companies MPK and Yves Rocher Vostok. They were convicted under Articles 159.4 §§ 2 and 3 and 174.1 § 2 (a) and (b) of the Russian Criminal Code. They complained to the ECHR under Article 5 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention about being placed under house arrest for ten months. Navalny submitted that that decision had been arbitrary and unnecessary for the purposes of his criminal proceedings and had had the goal of keeping him out of public life and away from political activity.
The ECHR ruled that indeed there has been violations of Articles 5, 10 and a violation of Article 18 of the Convention taken in conjunction with Article 5 of the Convention (articles stipulating rights to liberty, freedom of expression and limitation on use of restrictions on rights) and awarded him compensation of 20,000 Euros, which Russia paid.
Other allegations that Navalny is mentally ill, that there is a "project Navalny" or that his poisoning is a false pretext for new sanctions on Russia are part of a smear and disinformation campaign in pro-Kremlin media.
Alexei Navalny was arrested following his return to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for poisoning with Novichok-type chemical nerve agent. The European Union has condemned the arrest of Navalny and has demanded his immediate release. Navalny has been trying to register a political party in Russia since 2012. The Ministry of Justice refused to register the party six times.
See all the disinformation cases on Nalalny.