Олексій Навальний
The Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) plans to challenge the powers of the Russian delegation, including in connection with the detention of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Moscow.
Head of the permanent delegation of Ukrainian Parliament to the PACE Maria Mezentseva commented on detention of Navalny at Moscow's airport on January 17.
"Among other things, our delegation will use all possible tools provided by the regulations for further steps to hold urgent debates and challenge the powers of the Russian Federation based on these events," Mezentseva wrote on Facebook.
Mezentseva reminded that Navalny was to speak and participate online at a meeting of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on January 19.
"Given the recent events (his detention in Moscow, further stay in a pre-trial detention center, as well as a court hearing scheduled for January 29), he is unlikely to participate [in the PACE Committee meeting]," the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Assembly noted.
She added that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered Russia to pay Navalny more than EUR 22,000, ruling that the Russian government had violated a number of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has also voiced concern over the detention of Navalny and demanded that the Russian authorities immediately release all political prisoners, including Ukrainian nationals.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is deeply concerned about the detention of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. We regard the situation around Navalny as the Kremlin's continuation of the shameful practice of attacking human rights and suppressing freedom of speech," the Ministry wrote on January 18.
Ukrainian diplomats emphasised that the detention and politically motivated persecution of political and public figures, representatives of national minorities, journalists, which is systematically practised by the Kremlin, contradicts Russia's international commitments and the relevant agreements in the field of human rights to which Russia is a party.
"We demand that the Russian authorities immediately release all political prisoners, including citizens of Ukraine, who are illegally detained by the Russian authorities. We also call on the international community to take more decisive action to condemn the repressive practices of the Russian authorities," the statement said.
Background
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained at passport control of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport on January 17, after returning from Germany where he had been undergoing treatment for poisoning.
The plane of the Pobeda airline, with Navalny and his wife on board, landed at Sheremetyevo airport instead of the scheduled arrival at Vnukovo airport.
Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service in Moscow said that Navalny had been detained for the failure to visit the criminal executive inspectorate as a probationer.
