The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] on Thursday ordered [judgment] Russia to pay more than 63,000 euros for arresting Alexander Navalny multiple times between March 2012 and February 2014. The Court held that Russia repeatedly and unjustifiably violated Navalny’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [text, PDF].

Russia’s human rights record has been the subject of widespread international criticism. In January the US sanctioned [JURIST report] five Russian officials for human rights abuses. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced [JURIST report] in November 2016 that Russia would leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], expressing disdain over the ICC’s investigation into potential human rights abuses by Russian forces in South Ossetia in 2008. In May 2015 Russian President Vladmir Putin signed a law that allows for foreign “undesirable” NGOs or firms to be sanctioned and banned from operating in the country, drawing criticism from human rights groups.