Human Rights Chair concerned about verdict in Navalny case

COPENHAGEN, 18 July 2013 -- Isabel Santos (Portugal), chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, today released the following statement regarding a Russian court's verdict in the case of Alexey Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov:

"I am concerned about this trial and conviction. The procedural irregularities in today's guilty verdicts and prison sentences, in the case of Alexey Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov, are cause for apprehension and leave an open question of when the rule of law will reign in Russia. The fact that the charges against these men were not substantiated in court should be reason enough for the verdicts to be reversed on appeal. I will continue to follow this case and its appeal process.

"I call on the Russian Federation, and all OSCE countries, to respect the key role of civil society in the protection of human rights."

This is a press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The views expressed in this press release do not necessarily reflect those of the OSCE Chairmanship, nor of all OSCE participating States.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is comprised of 323 parliamentarians from 57 countries spanning, Europe, Central Asia and North America. The Assembly provides a forum for parliamentary diplomacy, monitors elections, and strengthens international cooperation to uphold commitments on political, security, economic, environmental and human rights issues.