The ECHR demanded the immediate release of Alexey Navalny

A copy of the court's decision, adopted by the Chamber of seven judges, is published on Navalny's website. The document was made public after the ECHR's lawyer Olga Mikhailova was informed in writing about the decision of the ECHR.

“On 16 February 2021, a Chamber of seven judges of the Court decided, in the interests of the parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings, to instruct Russia in accordance with Rule 39 of the Rules of Court to release the applicant”, - is written in the statement.

The document notes that when making the decision, the high degree of risk to the life of the politician in custody was taken into account. As follows from the documents of the court, the decision of the ECHR on the release of Navalny "is subject to immediate execution". The court intends to inform the Committee of Ministers about this.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice is skeptical about the possibility of releasing Navalny at the request of the ECHR.

“Taking a decision on the basis of Rule 39 of the ECHR Regulation in this case would be an unreasonable and gross interference in the work of the judicial system of a sovereign state, determined by crossing the red line. Such a decision cannot be enforced from the point of view of international law”, - the department told TASS.

The Ministry of Justice added that interim measures “are not provided for by the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights at all, they are executed rather at the good will of the states. Their implementation is not controlled by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, in contrast to the “routine” judgments of the ECHR. ” At the same time, the department admitted that they were in correspondence with the ECHR regarding the conditions of Navalny's detention in the pre-trial detention center after the European Court received statements from the politician's lawyers.

Navalny was detained on January 17 at Sheremetyevo airport while returning from Germany. There he underwent a course of treatment and rehabilitation from August 22 in connection with poisoning with the Novichok combat poison. This substance belongs to the category of chemical weapons, the use of which is prohibited by international conventions. Investigative journalists linked the poisoning of Navalny to the activities of the Russian special services, however, representatives of state agencies and security agencies have not yet launched an effective investigation into the alleged attempt on the life of a public figure in Russia.

The detention and arrest of Navalny, as well as his further prosecution in the Yves Rocher case and the "insult of the veteran", caused massive outrage in the country and abroad. Protesters took to the streets of hundreds of Russian and many European cities demanding the immediate release of Navalny and other political prisoners, as well as stopping the wave of political terror and corruption that gripped the country.

Earlier it was reported that the ECHR recognized the initiation of Yves Rocher's case against Alexey Navalny as politically motivated. A similar conclusion was reached by the European Union, which recognized as “politicized” the initiation of a case on “libel against a veteran”, according to which Navalny is currently being tried.