Published December 18,2023
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A United Nations rights skilled stated Monday that the “enforced disappearance” of Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny was alarming, demanding that Moscow instantly launch him.
The Kremlin critic’s attorneys have been prevented from assembly him since December 6, and he didn’t seem for a scheduled courtroom listening to final Friday.
“I am greatly concerned that the Russian authorities will not disclose Mr. Navalny’s whereabouts and well-being for such a prolonged period of time which amounts to enforced disappearance,” stated Mariana Katzarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russia.
Navalny, 47 — who has been a thorn within the aspect of Russian chief Vladimir Putin — was first jailed in 2021 after surviving a poisoning assassination try.
His sentence was earlier this yr prolonged to 19 years on extremism expenses.
Katzarova stated she had raised her considerations with the Russian authorities after Navalny’s group had been advised on Friday that he had been faraway from the Vladimir area close to Moscow on December 11 and brought to an undisclosed location.
Navalny’s household and attorneys had despatched letters to all penal colonies attempting to establish his whereabouts, she stated.
“They have received initial information that he might be at an Omsk penal colony, but that information was later rejected,” Katzarova stated in an announcement.
A courtroom earlier this yr dominated that Navalny be moved to a harsher jail.
Katzarova stated the extremism expenses he was convicted of had been “baseless” and warned that detainees face excessive dangers of significant rights violations throughout transportation.
The unbiased skilled, who was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council however who doesn’t converse on behalf of the UN, insisted that “the term ‘extremism’ has no basis in international law”.
“When it triggers criminal liability it constitutes a violation of human rights.”
Her assertion slammed “the unrelenting criminal persecution of Mr. Navalny”, which had been “widely condemned internationally, indicating blatant abuse of the court system for political purposes.”
She stated three of Navalny’s attorneys had been arrested in October, additionally on extremism expenses, and now risked prolonged imprisonment themselves.
“I call on Russian authorities to abide by their international human rights obligations,” Katzarova stated.
“Mr. Navalny and all those arbitrarily detained should be released immediately and provided remedies and reparations for all the harm suffered.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr