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NAVALNY'S ALLEGED POISONING

‘Taking the heat off the West’: Diplomat slams ECHR ban on access to Navalny’s health data

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman believes that the decision deprives Russia of the ability to request information on this case

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. The European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) decision to prohibit the transfer of documents containing data on the health condition of Russian blogger Alexey Navalny is meant to cover up the actions of Western intelligence services and block Russia from getting this information, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday.

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"This human rights structure is engaged in making these inhumane decisions, therefore, taking the heat off members belonging to the relevant agencies of Western countries who can do whatever they like because they will later be shielded by these decisions allegedly lying in the domain of human rights," she noted.

Moreover, Zakharova believes that this decision deprives Russia of the ability to request information on this case. "Any attempts to request information from [our] Western colleagues about what was truly found in his tests and what they are referring to are being blocked," the diplomat added.

On April 19, the ECHR ruled to prohibit access to the documents it has containing information about Navalny’s health condition. The international court decided that any documents related to his health should be viewed as confidential and, therefore, should not be accessible to the general public.

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