The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns the actions by Russia’s authorities as they keep bringing new charges against, and taking other administrative measures to target the opposition politician Alexei Navalny, his associates and supporters.
The court hearing scheduled for 15 February in cases brought against Alexei Navalny on charges of large-scale fraud and contempt of court should be rated as yet another politically motivated measure to silence Navalny and possibly keep him in prison in the long term. Holding a court hearing inside a penal colony is an unprecedented case.
Through restricting access for the wider public to the trial, the proceedings are rendered untransparent.
Alexei Navalny has already served more than a year in prison, while the majority of his associates have been forced to leave Russia as the result of charges brought against them or risks to their personal security. The organisations (Anti-Corruption Foundation and Navalny’s regional offices) headed by him have ceased operations after a Russian court classified them as “extremist” in the summer of 2021.
On the same formal pretext, Russia’s authorities are implementing measures that restrict freedom, and are pressing demands to remove materials on Alexei Navalny from mass media that provide information on investigations carried out by the Anti-Corruption Foundation established by Alexei Navalny.
Due to this status, Alexei Navalny’s associates were banned from participation in the State Duma elections last year.
According to estimates by human rights organisations, 170 criminal cases have been opened on participation in the large-scale protest rallies that were held in support of Alexei Navalny in many places across Russia and met with a brutal crack-down in the early 2021.
Latvia urges Russia once again to honour the fundamental values of democracy and international commitments Russia has made in the OSCE and the Council of Europe, and calls for release of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny in compliance with rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and for ceasing political persecution aimed at him and his followers and supporters.