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ECHR demand to release Navalny has no legal ground, says Minister of Justice

Earlier, Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova disclosed that the ECHR demands that Russia immediately release Navalny, based on the Rule 39 of the Rules of Court

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Russian Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko called the European Court of Human Rights’ demand to release blogger Alexey Navalny unprecedented, adding that it is impracticable, because it has no legal basis.

"The ECHR demand that we received today is unprecedented due to a number of reasons. First, it is a clear and blatant interference in the judicial power of a sovereign state. Second, this demand is ungrounded and unlawful, because it does not contain a single fact, a single legal norm that would make it possible for the court to hand over such ruling," the Minister told journalists Wednesday.

"Third, this demand is inherently impracticable, because, according to the Russian law, there are no legal grounds for the release of this person from detention," he underscored.

Chuychenko pointed out that "knowing all this, European judges made a clearly political decision, which can only complicate the restoration of constructive relations with the Council of Europe institutions."

"Compliance with this ECHR ruling would be nothing else but a display of selective approach, which contradicts the fundamental principle of the ECHR, that being the supremacy of the law," the Minister said.

Earlier, Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova disclosed that the ECHR demands that Russia immediately release Navalny, based on the Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. According to the lawyer, "Russia must immediately release Navalny, in accordance with the current norms and all international agreements."

Previously, Russian Ministry of Justice told TASS that Russia will not be able to release Navalny based on the interim measures at the ECHR’s demand, arguing that this would constitute blatant interference in the operation of a sovereign state’s judicial system, "a certain step over the red line.".

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