STRASBOURG: Europe’s top rights court condemned Russia on Thursday over a series of arrests of the outspoken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, calling them “politically motivated” attempts to curtail opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s government.
Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg said seven arrests between 2012 and 2014 had violated Navalny’s rights to security, a fair trial and the freedom of assembly.
Each time the anti-corruption campaigner was detained and later convicted of either breaching procedures for holding public demonstrations or disobeying a police order.
In two of the arrests, the court ruled that “they had actually aimed at suppressing political pluralism.”
“It is a very clear judgment,” Navalny said after the ruling in Strasbourg, where he managed to arrive Wednesday after Russian border guards prevented him from flying out of Moscow the day before.
The agents said he could not leave until he paid a fine of 2.1 million rubles (28,000 euros, $31,600) connected to a 2013 conviction.
“The European court recognizes that it was a politically motivated arrest and persecution,” Navalny said.
“It was very important not just for me but for many people all over Russia who are arrested every day.”
The court ordered Russia to pay Navalny 50,000 euros ($56,000) in damages, as well as 1,025 euros in financial compensation and 12,653 euros for costs and expenses.
But Navalny said he did not expect the Russian government to hand over the money.
“It is going to ignore the ruling and say the European justice system is politically motivated... That is the Russian government’s standard response,” he said.
The court had already condemned Russia last year over the arrests, but rejected Navalny’s claim they were politically motivated.
That prompted a rare appeal by both Navalny and the Russian authorities.
In its ruling Thursday, the court called on Russia “to provide a legal mechanism for the authorities to take due regard of the fundamental importance of the right to peaceful assembly and show the necessary tolerance for unauthorized, peaceful gatherings.”
Navalny, a 42-year-old Yale-educated lawyer, has for years investigated suspected corruption by top officials, at times making allegations which have drawn thousands of people into the streets.
He came to prominence as an organizer of huge anti-Putin rallies that shook Russia in 2011 and 2012 following accusations of vote-rigging in parliamentary polls that restored Putin to the presidency.
His anti-corruption rhetoric is especially popular with younger people who follow his online channels and blogs.
But Putin has shown no appetite for opposition, and Navalny has repeatedly been arrested — last month he was released from back-to-back sentences for organizing demonstrations.
From 2013 to 2017 he was prohibited from leaving Russia, as authorities refused to issue him a passport because of the legal cases.
He was eventually allowed to leave the country in May last year to seek treatment in Spain for damage to his eye after an unknown assailant threw green dye in his face in Moscow.
But he was barred from running against Putin in presidential elections last March, prompting him to call for a boycott of a vote which returned the Russian leader to power with 76 percent of the vote.
Since then his 17-year-old daughter, Daria, has launched her own YouTube show called “Voice of My Generation.”
Vladimir Putin critic claims victory after rights court condemns arrests
Vladimir Putin critic claims victory after rights court condemns arrests
- Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg said seven arrests between 2012 and 2014 had violated Navalny’s rights
- The court had already condemned Russia last year over the arrests, but rejected Navalny’s claim they were politically motivated
Shooter kills 9 at Canadian school and residence
- The shooter was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound
- A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries
TORONTO: A shooter killed nine people and wounded dozens more at a secondary school and a residence in a remote part of western Canada on Tuesday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country’s history.
The suspect, described by police in an initial emergency alert as a “female in a dress with brown hair,” was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
The attack occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a picturesque mountain valley town in the foothills of the Rockies.
A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “devastated” by the “horrific acts of violence” and announced he was suspending plans to travel to the Munich Security Conference on Wednesday, where he had been set to hold talks with allies on transatlantic defense readiness.
Police said an alert was issued about an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday afternoon.
As police searched the school, they found six people shot dead. A seventh person with a gunshot wound died en route to hospital.
Separately, police found two more bodies at a residence in the town.
The residence is “believed to be connected to the incident,” police said.
At the school, “an individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self?inflicted injury,” police said.
Police have not yet released any information about the age of the shooter or the victims.
“We are devastated by the loss of life and the profound impact this tragedy has had on families, students, staff, and our entire town,” the municipality of Tumbler Ridge said in a statement.
Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist told public broadcaster CBC that he was in his mechanics class when there was an announcement that the school was in lockdown.
He said that initially he “didn’t think anything was going on,” but started receiving “disturbing” photos about the carnage.
“It set in what was happening,” Quist said.
He said he stayed in lockdown for more than two hours until police stormed in, ordering everyone to put their hands up before escorting them out of the school.
Trent Ernst, a local journalist and a former substitute teacher at Tumbler Ridge, expressed shock over the shooting at the school, where one of his children has just graduated.
He noted that school shootings have been a rarity occurring every few years in Canada compared with the United States, where they are far more frequent.
“I used to kind of go: ‘Look at Canada, look at who we are.’ But then that one school shooting every 2.5 years happens in your town and things... just go off the rails,” he told AFP.
‘Heartbreak’
While mass shootings are extremely rare in Canada, last April, a vehicle attack that targeted a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver killed 11 people.
British Columbia Premier David Eby called the latest violence “unimaginable.”
Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s minister of public safety, said it was “one of the worst mass shootings in our province’s and country’s history.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee, whose athletes are competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, said Wednesday it was “heartbroken by the news of the horrific school shooting.”
Ken Floyd, commander of the police’s northern district, said: “This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community, and we are grateful for the cooperation shown as officers continue their work to advance the investigation.”
Floyd told reporters the shooter was the same suspect police described as “female” in a prior emergency alert to community members, but declined to provide any details on the suspect’s identity.
The police said officers were searching other homes and properties in the community to see if there were additional sites connected to the incident.
Tumbler Ridge, a quiet town with roughly 2,400 residents, is more than 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia’s largest city.
“There are no words sufficient for the heartbreak our community is experiencing tonight,” the municipality said.
