Russian Justice Ministry to Appeal ECHR Ruling in Navalny's Favor

Feb. 24, 2016

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

The Russian Justice Ministry has announced it will appeal the ruling made in favor of opposition leader Alexei Navalny by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

The ministry will address the Grand Chamber of the EHCR, the Russian ministry's press office said in a statement, RIA Novosti reported.

The ECHR ruled on Tuesday that — in the KirovLes timber company embezzlement case against opposition leader Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov — Russia violated Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which grants European citizens the right to a fair trial.

It ruled that Russia must pay Navalny and Ofitserov €8,000 ($8,834) each as compensation for moral damages. Navalny and Ofitserov are also obliged to receive €48,000 ($52,881) and €23,000 ($25,333) respectively in order to cover their legal costs.

The two men were convicted in 2013 of embezzlement and were sentenced to five and four years in prison respectively, later replaced with probation.

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