The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has strongly condemned the Russian authorities for the recent death of Alexey Navalnyy. At the Committee’s latest quarterly meeting on the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights, it called for an international commission of inquiry into Mr Navalnyy's death, to help ensure the independence of the investigation given the lack of trust in relevant institutions in Russia.

In an Interim Resolution(*) adopted at this week’s meeting, where the nine cases of the Navalnyy and Ofitserov group concerning the Russian Federation were on the agenda, the Committee of Ministers stated that the death of Mr Navalnyy appears to be the alarming consequence of a pattern of victimisation and political persecution revealed by the many violations found by the European Court of Human Rights, in retaliation for his anti-government protests and investigative activities.

Following the Committee meeting, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, recalling firmly the Russian Federation’s unconditional and binding international legal obligation to implement all final judgments and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, even though it has ceased to be a Party to the European Convention on Human Rights as from 16 September 2022. She stressed it was deeply regrettable that the Russian authorities had stopped all communication with the Council of Europe in respect of the implementation of the judgments by the Court and that so many judgments against the Russian Federation remain unimplemented. The Secretary General has urged the Russian authorities to abide by these judgments and to take all required measures to execute them.

There are currently 2,633 cases under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers, pending full implementation by the Russian authorities. Information is currently awaited on the payment of ‘just satisfaction’ in 1,378 cases. As of 11 March 2024, the amount outstanding stood at over 2 billion euros.

Ahead of this week’s meeting, the Committee held an informal discussion with representatives of Russian human rights NGOs on issues relevant to the execution of judgments. It was the third such exchange since the Russian Federation was excluded from the Council of Europe in March 2022.

(*) An Interim Resolution is a form of decision adopted by the Committee of Ministers aimed at overcoming more complex situations requiring special attention.

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Committee of Ministers condemns Russia for Aleksey Navalnyy’s death, calls for independent international investigation

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