MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the arrest of Alexei Navalny

B9‑0090/2021

European Parliament resolution on the arrest of Alexei Navalny

(2021/2513(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on the case of Alexei Navalny, in particular that of 17 September 2020 on the situation in Russia: the poisoning of Alexei Navalny[1],

– having regard to the declaration of 18 January 2021 by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) on behalf of the EU on the arrest of Alexei Navalny upon his return to Russia, and that of 3 September 2020 on his poisoning,

– having regard to the statements by the VP/HR of 2 September and 24 August 2020 on the poisoning of Alexei Navalny,

– having regard to the statement of 18 January 2021 by the President of the European Commission on the detention of Alexei Navalny in Moscow,

– having regard to the European Council conclusions of 1 October 2020,

– having regard to the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council of 12 October 2020 and the political agreement reached to impose restrictive measures against those linked with the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny,

– having regard to Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Russia is a state party,

– having regard to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (the Chemical Weapons Convention), to which Russia is a state party,

– having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Russia is a state party, and in particular to Article 6 thereof,

– having regard to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in particular Chapter 2 thereof, and to the international human rights obligations to which Russia has committed as a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),

– having regard to the G7 Foreign Ministers’ statement on the poisoning of Alexei Navalny of 8 September 2020,

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best-known anti-corruption activist and opposition politician, was arrested upon his return to Russia, after urgent medical treatment and rehabilitation following an attempt to assassinate him with a prohibited chemical nerve agent;

B. whereas on 20 August 2020 Alexei Navalny fell into a coma on board a domestic Russian flight, received emergency treatment for suspected poisoning in a hospital in the Russian city of Omsk, and, when Russian laboratories did not confirm poisoning, was air-lifted at the request of his family for additional medical treatment at the Charité hospital in Berlin from 22 August to 22 September;

C. whereas Charité hospital diagnosed severe poisoning, and whereas toxicological analysis carried out by several specialised laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, as well as by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), confirmed that Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a military-grade chemical nerve agent of the ‘Novichok’ group, developed by the Soviet Union and, later, the Russian Federation;

D. whereas under the Chemical Weapons Convention, any poisoning of an individual through the use of a nerve agent is considered a use of chemical weapons, and whereas the use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances constitutes a serious breach of international law and international human rights standards;

E. whereas the EU, together with international partners, called on the Russian authorities to thoroughly investigate the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny using a prohibited chemical nerve agent, to fully cooperate with the OPCW to ensure an impartial international investigation, and to bring those responsible to justice; whereas no such thorough and impartial investigation by the Russian authorities has taken place to date and Russia has explicitly rejected any calls for an investigation;

F. whereas on 15 October 2020 the EU, in the absence of any Russian investigation or cooperation with the OPCW, imposed sanctions against six Russian individuals and one entity involved in the crime;

G. whereas an investigation led by the independent research platform Bellingcat, with the involvement of Alexei Navalny, suggests the failed assassination attempt was coordinated by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and that the latter is running a chemical weapons programme illegal under international law;

H. whereas the fact that the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny took place in the run-up to Russia’s local and regional elections in September 2020 casts a particularly worrying light on the state of democracy, fundamental freedoms and human rights in the country ahead of the parliamentary elections in 2021;

I. whereas on 17 January 2021 Alexei Navalny was arrested immediately upon his return to Russia after arriving at Moscow Sheremetyevo airport, on charges that his stay abroad for urgent medical treatment after an assassination attempt by poisoning constitutes a breach of the terms of a suspended sentence from 2014; whereas his immediate arrest supports the presumption that the attacks on his life and freedom relate to his political commitment and anti-corruption campaigning;

J. whereas, on the day following his arrest, Alexei Navalny was ordered to remain in custody for 30 days in an impromptu hearing inside the police station where he was being detained; whereas his defence team received no advance notice of the court hearing and was not provided access to the courtroom; whereas, if the request of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to replace his suspended sentence is granted, Alexei Navalny faces three and a half years in prison;

1. Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexei Navalny and strongly condemns his immediate arbitrary arrest and custodial sentencing in legal proceedings that failed to meet the basic standards of the rule of law, including judicial independence, the right to a fair trial and the right to counsel;

2. Calls for the release of all other persons arrested on the day of and in connection with Alexei Navalny’s return to Russia on Sunday, 17 January, whether they be journalists, people he works with or citizens showing support;

3. Strongly condemns his arrest as an additional cynical attempt at silencing one of Russia’s most influential anti-corruption activists and vocal opposition politicians, who has received a great deal of public attention for his courage both in exposing serious corruption in the regime and in returning to his home country after an assassination attempt perpetrated by persons using a prohibited chemical nerve agent which is accessible only to the Russian military and intelligence services;

4. Recalls the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, according to which a number of the Russian court proceedings against Alexei Navalny, including the aforementioned 2014 proceedings, breached his rights, were politically motivated and aimed at suppressing political pluralism; strongly rejects, therefore, the use of past court sentences as a pretext to arrest Alexei Navalny again on his return to Moscow after urgent medical treatment abroad following his attempted assassination by poisoning;

5. Reiterates its firm condemnation of the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned by a military-grade chemical nerve agent of the ‘Novichok’ group, and expresses its utmost concern about this repeated use of a chemical nerve agent against Russian citizens, which echoes the case of Sergei Skripal in 2018; recalls that the use of chemical weapons under any circumstance constitutes a reprehensible crime under international law, in particular under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which must therefore be investigated internationally;

6. States its conviction that the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny and his immediate arrest on his return to Russia are aimed at deterring further exposure of serious corruption in the regime and at deterring political opposition in the country in general, in particular with a view to the upcoming parliamentary elections in the autumn of 2021;

7. Calls on the Russian authorities to put an end to the harassment, intimidation, violence, and repression of its political opponents by ending the prevailing impunity which has already led to the loss of the lives of many journalists, human rights defenders and opposition politicians, and to ensure that they are able to carry out their legitimate and useful activities without fear for their lives or those of their family members or friends;

8. Urges the Russian Federation to uphold the principles of democracy and the rule of law, and stresses that the Russian Federation, as a member of the Council of Europe and the OSCE, has committed to respecting fundamental freedoms, human rights and the rule of law as enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other international treaties and conventions;

9. Continues to urge the Russian Government to investigate this crime against a Russian citizen who was poisoned on Russian territory by a chemical nerve agent accessible only to the Russian military and intelligence services, in a thorough and transparent manner and without any further delay;

10. Reiterates its call on the Russian authorities to bring to justice and hold accountable both the perpetrators of this reckless act and the persons responsible for facilitating it by providing the perpetrators with the chemical nerve agent;

11. Underlines the duty of the Russian Federation, as a member of the UN Security Council, to respect international law and the relevant agreements and conventions, and to comply fully with its international commitments, including cooperation with the OPCW in investigating any breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention;

12. Welcomes the imposition of restrictive measures against six individuals and one entity involved in the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny; calls on the Council to continue exerting pressure on the Russian Federation to investigate the assassination attempt and to hold its perpetrators to account; urges the Council, in the event that Alexei Navalny is not released, to exercise all means at its disposal to ensure his swift release, including considering the imposition of additional targeted restrictive measures under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime against all individuals who were directly involved or bear responsibility for the attacks against him;

13. Calls on the European External Action Service led by the High Representative/Vice-President to ensure continued cohesion around the five guiding principles of the EU’s policy towards Russia and to develop a new comprehensive strategy towards Russia, with a firm and principled position, based on the need to respect international law and human rights standards and aimed at strengthening peace and security, and supporting democracy and the rule of law;

14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.