House arrest of Russian opposition leader

11.3.2014

Question for written answer E-002859-14
to the Commission
Rule 117
Marek Henryk Migalski (ECR)

On 28 February 2014, a Moscow court changed — at the request of the Russian Federal Investigative Committee — the preventive measures applied against the anti‐Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny from a ban on leaving the Russian capital to house arrest. The court has banned Navalny from contacting journalists, using the Internet or making telephone calls. He has also been threatened with having the suspension of his five‐year sentence for embezzlement lifted.

The Committee justified its request to change the preventive measures by stating that Navalny had, on several occasions, left Moscow without the permission of investigators. Now he and a number of other opposition members have been sentenced to seven days of house arrest for attending a protest against the prison sentences handed down to participants in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square protests.

The Russian authorities are launching a whole host of criminal cases against Alexei Navalny. In July 2013, the first sentence was handed down, with Navalny receiving a five‐year suspended sentence. However, the Kremlin is persisting in its attempts to eliminate this dangerous rival from the political stage. The decision of the Moscow court is, without a doubt, the latest in a series of attempts to curb the activities of this opposition leader.

With this in mind, does the Commission have any information about the situation of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny? Does it intend to take action on this matter?

OJ C 326, 19/09/2014