Russia to appeal European ruling on protest leader Navalny
Russia on Wednesday said it would appeal a European Court of Human Rights ruling that it deprived opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny of a fair trial on embezzlement charges.
The court on Tuesday ruled that Russia's conviction of Navalny and his co-accused Pyotr Ofitserov in a 2013 trial was "prejudicial" and based on an "arbitrary application of the law."
"Russia's justice ministry will appeal the ruling of the European Court on the case of Navalny and Ofitserov vs Russia to the ECHR's Grand Chamber within the deadline," the ministry's press service told TASS state news agency.
Russia said it would base its legal position on precedents set at the ECHR "including those confirming the right of national courts to interpret and implement national legislation."
Russia has three months to ask for another review of the case, but the European court is not obliged to grant it.
Navalny and Ofitserov were convicted over a business deal to buy timber from state-owned company Kirovles in northern Russia and sentenced to suspended sentences of 5 and 4 years respectively.
Navalny, 39, who has fearlessly exposed the corruption of Russian elites, welcomed the European court decision on his blog.
"The truth is with us and we will win," Navalny wrote, adding that he wants to "defend the country from the thieves and villains who seized power in Russia".
His lawyer Olga Mikhalova told TASS that the European verdict gives Navalny and Ofitserov the "right to receive a not-guilty verdict over Kirovles" from Russia.
The court ordered Moscow to pay damages of 8,000 euros ($8,800) to the two men, and to cover their court expenses.
Navalny wrote on Twitter that despite the European ruling, he will still not be able to stand for office because he is still serving a suspended sentence in another case.
He was given a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence in 2014 after being convicted on charges he embezzled money from French cosmetics company Yves Rocher.