Russia responsible for Navalnys death, UN rights expert says

The U.N. human rights skilled on Russia stated on Monday that the demise of opposition politician Alexei Navalny was Moscow’s accountability as he was both killed in jail or died from detention circumstances that amounted to torture.

Russian authorities say Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most outstanding critic, died on Feb. 16 in an Arctic jail of pure causes. Navalny’s spouse Yulia Navalnaya has accused Putin of getting him killed, an accusation the Kremlin rejects.

“So the Russian government is responsible, one way or another, for his death,” Mariana Katzarova advised Reuters on the sidelines of an occasion on Russian political prisoners on the United Nations in Geneva. She cited lengthy durations of solitary confinement which she stated amounted to about 300 days, which might have brought on “a slow death over several years”.

Katzarova, who was appointed final yr and has not but been granted entry to the nation, additionally stated different detainees in Russia might endure the identical destiny as Navalny. She was “very worried” about opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.

“Ever since the death of Alexei Navalny, there is no day passing without asking myself, who is the next Navalny?” she stated. “And there will be a next Navalny, for sure, with this level of repression.”

Katzarova, a Bulgarian former investigator for Amnesty International, is considered one of dozens of impartial human rights consultants mandated by the United Nations to report on particular themes or crises, although the one one reporting on one of many 5 states with a everlasting seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Civil society teams say that round 600-1,000 political prisoners are being detained in Russia for voicing opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine or refusing to struggle in it. Moscow rejects criticism of its home rights report.

In her deal with on the U.N. assembly earlier, the place Nobel Prize-winning Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov additionally spoke, Katzarova known as for extra stress on Moscow to launch political detainees and examine Navalny’s demise.

“We cannot afford to just be insulted by the human rights situation in Russia,” she advised the packed room of diplomats. “It’s up to you to take steps, real steps for the protection of these political prisoners.”