06/06/2023 (Agence Europe) – In a ruling handed down on Tuesday 6 June, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia for “failure to carry out an effective investigation into Alexei Navalny’s alleged poisoning with a chemical nerve agent” and ordered Moscow to pay €40,000 in respect of “non-pecuniary damage”. The authorities’ refusal to initiate criminal proceedings based solely on Russian expert reports concluding that there was no toxic substance violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to life), concluded the Strasbourg judges, unanimously. The judges also condemned the serious shortcomings during the preliminary investigation. Although Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe in March 2022, it is still affected by all the judgments handed down by the Court for events occurring up to 16 September 2022. (VL)