Volker Türk mentioned the 19-year sentence was based mostly on imprecise and overly broad prices of “extremism” and adopted a closed trial on the premises of the jail the place Mr. Navalny is already serving two different sentences amounting to 11 and a half years.
He recalled that beneath worldwide human rights regulation, States have an obligation to respect, defend and fulfil the complete vary of honest trial and due course of rights to all people disadvantaged of their liberty.
“I name on the Russian authorities to take measures to respect these obligations by instantly ceasing violations of Navalny’s human rights and launch him,” the rights chief mentioned.
Repressive crackdown
Mr. Türk mentioned this newest sentence in opposition to Mr. Navalny comes amid an more and more repressive crackdown on freedom of expression and political opposition in Russia.
Since February 2022, some 20,000 folks have been arrested, a lot of them briefly, for numerous actions in opposition to Russia’s struggle in opposition to Ukraine, together with protesting and posting on social media.
A number of had been jailed for allegedly spreading false details about the actions of the army and a whole lot extra have been given administrative fines for “discrediting” the Russian Military, he added.
There has additionally been a pointy enhance in the usage of the espionage and treason provisions of the Prison Code to try to convict people who had been merely exercising their human rights.
Mr. Türk referred to as for a clear and neutral assessment of such instances, in accordance with worldwide human rights norms.
“Deprivation of liberty for the train of human rights, together with the liberty of opinion, expression, peaceable meeting and affiliation, constitutes arbitrary detention beneath worldwide human rights regulation,” he mentioned, including that “all these arbitrarily detained needs to be launched instantly.”
