European Commission Calls for Liberation of Navajo on anniversary of its poisoning

In a statement posted on August 20th, Borrell said the “commission continues to condemn in the harshest terms possible the attempt to kill” Navalnyn and calls on Russia to “honour its commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention”.

Borrell's statement also expressed regret that Moscow has banned the Navalny organisations in Russia by labeling them as <x0-secondsist” and for Mr. Navalny and his team members”. The declaration calls for the immediate release of Navajo from prison and for Moscow to meet its commitments under the European Convention for Human Rights.

In August 2020, Navajo became seriously ill while on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. After receiving emergency medical care at Omsk, he was evacuated to Germany to receive medical assistance, where experts determined he was poisoned by a nervous agent from the Novico group, the same poison that was used in the attempt to kill former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Scripal in Salisbury, England, in 2018.

Navalny has said the poisoning was carried out by federal Security Service operatives (FSB) acting on the order of President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny was arrested immediately after his return to Russia in January 2021. The following month, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for an alleged parole violation during his recovery abroad.

In March, Navalny was sentenced to a separate nine-year prison case for embezzlement and ignoring the court charges he and his supporters reject as politically motivated. / REL