Ivan Nepomnyashchikh, convicted in the Bolotnaya case, appealed to the ECHR

Ivan Nepomnyashchy, sentenced to two and a half years in prison in the Bolotnaya case in December 2015, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights with a complaint about a violation of the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The Vedomosti newspaper wrote about this on August 29, citing Damir Gainutdinov, a member of the international human rights group Agora, who represents the interests of the Nepomnyashchi.

In addition to Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention (rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression), the complaint also alleges a violation of Article 18, which prohibits persecution on political grounds. According to Nepomniachtchi's defense, it is in his case that the political motive can be seen especially clearly. In a conversation with Vedomosti, Gainutdinov emphasized that the administrative case opened against Nepomnyashchi after the arrest on Bolotnaya Square was terminated by the court due to falsification of the protocol. However, three years later, when Nepomnyashchikh became accused in the Bolotnaya case, the police reported details that were not in the administrative case. “We are trying to prove that the Russian authorities are trying to criminalize any protest activity and this is a general trend,” the newspaper quotes Gainutdinov as saying.