Arrest of Alexei Navalny: Speech by High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell at the EP debate
Ms President, Honourable Members of the European Parliament,
The arrest, on live TV, of the Russian opposition politician Mr Alexei Navalny upon his return to Moscow last Sunday is unacceptable, both to Europe and also to the international community which believes in the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Yesterday, I issued, on behalf of the European Union, a declaration with a clear message that we condemn the arrest of Mr Navalny and that we stand in strong solidarity with him. The President of the European Union Council and the President of the Commission also issued a statement in this sense.
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Mr Navalny’s rights must be fully and unconditionally respected and enforced. Politicisation of the judiciary is unacceptable.
We call upon the Russian authorities to release Mr Navalny, as well as all those journalists and activists who have been detained in connection to his return.
Honourable members, let me also share how glad I am that Mr Navalny recovered from the severe poisoning in August last year. My biggest recognition goes to all those, especially the medical staff and the team around Mr Navalny, who have been treating and supporting him during the last months.
As I said in our plenary discussion on the case of Mr Navalny that we had here in September, the EU condemns in the strongest possible terms the assassination attempt, through poison using a military chemical nerve [agent] of the “Novichok” group.
As a reaction, the European Union responded by imposing, in a swift manner, restrictive measures on six individuals and one entity, in October last year, involved in the assassination attempt. These are highly-ranked officials in Russia, including the Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the FSB.
As you know, any further decision on sanctions is for the Council to take.
I am looking forward to this discussion, very timely about such an important issue.
Thank you.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-201220
European Parliament
Photo: Reuters