LONDON, May 14. /TASS/. Russia’s embassy in London has accused London of acting in violation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms following the incident with poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain’s Salisbury in early March.
"It is clear though that the UK continues to blatantly violate the rights of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, who might be forcibly detained on its territory, in addition to violations of Russia’s right to communicate with them in accordance with Article 36 of the bilateral Consular convention," an embassy spokesman said on Monday.
"In particular, the actions of the British authorities raise serious questions as regards to observance of the following rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950: right to liberty. "Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the… cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law" (Article 5 of the ECHR); right to respect for private and family life. "Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence" (Article 8 of the ECHR); freedom of movement. "Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence" (Article 2 of the Protocol · 4 to the ECHR)," he said.
"Moreover, the unusually passive behaviour of the media when covering the poisoning of the Skripals leads to suspicions of violations of the rights of journalists and their audience contrary to Article 10 of the ECHR ("Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom… to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authorities…")," the embassy noted.
"Since more than two months Sergei and Yulia Skripal have disappeared from public scene, have been placed in an unknown location, deprived of opportunities to communicate with their relatives, friends, journalists and official Russian representatives, and have been unable to travel freely," the embassy said.
"We urge the British authorities once again to follow the human rights obligations under international law and national legislation and thus to live up to the calls that they incessantly address to other countries," the spokesman said, adding that it is too early to speak about possible steps on Russia’s part.