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THE EUROPEAN COURT of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Russia for its treatment of former world chess champion turned Kremlin foe Garry Kasparov, the second such ruling in two months.
The latest judgement said his arrest and that of fellow activist Aleksandr Averin en route to a 2007 opposition rally in Moscow was unjustified and designed to discourage other such protests.
Riot police arrested Kasparov, Averin and five other campaigners on their way to the peaceful protest on 24 November, 2007.
They were accused of marching without authorisation and refusing to disperse and eventually sentenced to five days’ detention without getting a chance to present a defence, said the court.
As with several similar cases before the court, Kasparov and Averin were arrested at an “undeniably peaceful” procession and sentenced “without any assessment of the disturbance they had caused”, said the ruling.
“The chilling effect of the sanctions had been amplified by the fact that they had targeted Mr Kasparov, a well-known public figure, whose deprivation of liberty had been bound to attract wide media coverage,” the court added.
Kasparov and Averin tried unsuccessfully to get their sentences overturned through the Russian courts before turning to the ECHR, based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.
In an earlier 11 October ruling, the court ruled that Kasparov had also been illegally detained ahead of another opposition rally, on 18 May, 2007.
Kasparov was one of the founder members of the opposition Other Russia movement in 2006.
He now lives in the United States after trying to mount a rival bid to Vladimir Putin in the 2008 Russian presidential election.
The ECHR was set up in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.
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That lad would want to be careful. Accidental radiation poisoning can happen
But but but I thought Putin is a good guy now?
Think Leopard and Spots. Once KGB always KGB.
@Eye_c_u:
He knows about the danger but he does the right thing anyway.
Great integrity and courage. A hero
Oh I’d agree the man’s got a sack. Still he knows he will not die of natural causes as an old man. Only matter of time before they get him.
Especially now he has embarrassed Putin & Co. Vlad doesn’t like people making him look bad.
@Mick Jordan: And a very rich ex KGB’er too.
Or poison tipped umbrellas ..
Check mate.
Russian Government using him as a political PAWN
@Ben Doyle:
Using him as a political pawn and forgetting he was 13 times world chess champion .
But what is the point in a court making a judgement on something it has no jurisdiction over. Surely they could find a more appropriate use for the court or the money it costs.
It’s the EU, they love wasting money on crap like this!
Well no, it’s not the EU. It’s the European Court of Human Rights, which is a Council of Europe institution.
Because Russia is a member of the council of Europe, of which the ECHR is a court of, hence, there is jurisdiction.
@David Memery: He was lucky Putin did not poison him
It’s not the eu. It’s a European court signed up to by Russia and other non European countries also. And it is binding on them
Guy gets arrested going to a rally and this is news? ….Anymore reds under the bed….
@Dick Durkin:
He is a 13 time world chess champion and a huge public figure in Russia. Anyone successfully standing up to Pitin is a huge deal.
Russia has bigger fish to fry these days….they are working on having all sanctions removed after the Ukraine invasion. Looks like they have a few good friends in the US now to make that happen.
The man has a right to pursue his case with the ECHR. I pursued my case of allegations and arrest by Gardai and I also took it up with the ECHR But didn’t get anywhere with it. It appears that in Ireland its who you know that counts and not what you know.
Would it possibly be that the court deemed your case had no merit?
Trumputin will divide Europe and sell Ukraine down the swanny. To lose the popular vote by nearly 3million votes. How can they leave him be president
Putin could be heard laughing, in the halls of the Kremlin and they say he is worried?
Thanks Stephen. They said it was six months out of time.
have your say