On Wednesday 4 October, the European Union criticised the previous day's decision by the Russian judiciary to imprison opposition leader Alexei Navalny for 20 days. Navalny was sentenced for calling unauthorised demonstrations.
"The EU expects Mr Navalny to be released immediately and for him to be able to exercise his fundamental rights in peace", an EU spokesperson told EUROPE.
The Russian judiciary's decision "is part of the Russian authorities' continuing harassment of the opposition and its leaders", the spokesperson stated, adding that Navalny's condemnation "raises questions about the commitment of the Russian authorities to protect the fundamental rights of all its citizens, including the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly".
The spokesperson stated that the Russian authorities were required to protect the fundamental freedoms of all the country's citizens and "to guarantee equal opportunities for all the country's political actors" – "especially in view of the presidential elections taking place next year".
The spokesperson highlighted the memorandum from the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights on 29 September, according to which Russian legislation on the freedom of assembly had become considerably more restrictive in recent years. The memorandum also said that there had been numerous arrests of people participating in demonstrations, and that there was a growing intolerance to "unauthorised" events in Russia.
Navalny was condemned to 25 days in prison in June for organising a demonstration that was forbidden by the authorities (see EUROPE 11807). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)