Turkey has offered to escort maritime convoys from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which have been blocked by Moscow's offensive. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has begun a two-day visit to Turkey, where he will hold talks on unblocking grain exports from Ukraine.Īt the heart of the negotiations is the opening of a security corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian grain. Russia described the ruling as "unlawful." With reporting by Reuters and TASS
The ECHR ruled in February 2021 that Navalny should be released from prison after being jailed on charges he described as politically motivated. The break with the ECHR would also remove a legal avenue that Russians, including jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, have used in the past to raise cases that had been rejected by national courts. The ruling would also affect a case in the Siberian city of Chita, where several Jehovah’s Witnesses this week were handed prison terms on extremism charges amid an ongoing crackdown on the religious group that has been banned in Russia since 2017.īut the implementation of the ruling will be blocked if Putin signs the bills into law. Russia, which combined 20 complaints filed by Jehovah's Witnesses from 2010 to 2019. The decision was issued in the case of Taganrog and Others vs. Navalny Loses Appeal Against Penitentiary's Decision To Label Him 'Inclined To Commit Terrorism' The court ruled that the Russian authorities’ decision to ban the group, liquidate its headquarters and nearly 400 legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, and seize property violated the rights of believers. The two bills passed the Duma the same day that the ECHR ruled on a complaint filed by Russian members of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a banned Christian group that for decades has been viewed with suspicion in Russia. The CoE’s Committee of Ministers decided in March to expel Russia after 26 years of membership over its invasion of Ukraine the month before. The Strasbourg-based CoE overseas the court and its parliament elects the judges who sit on the ECHR. Russia informed the director general of the Council of Europe (CoE) that it was withdrawing from the court based on Article 7 of its charter under which any member of the council may withdraw following an official notification. He cited an ECHR ruling that Russia recognize same-sex marriages, saying there have been “a multitude of such rulings” by the ECHR, and Russia “cannot agree with this.” Under the leadership of strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya has persecuted sexual minorities, sparking international outrage.Ĭhechen police have not only tortured members of the gay community, demanding they identify other LGBT people, but have killed several of them, according to human rights groups.Īs Donbas Fighting Rages, Syevyerodonetsk And Lysychansk 'Dead Cities,' Zelenskiy Says The local government has declined to comment. The officer said they were killed but did not know the exact cause of death. The other three were buried two weeks ago in another town, the local police source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. The video featuring two men and two women went viral and allegedly angered the leadership of Russia's tightly controlled, predominantly Muslim, republic of Chechnya.Īll four participants were arrested at the request of the government, but one woman - who was not Chechen - was eventually let go. Three Chechens who were filmed taking part in group sex early this year have been killed, a local police source told Caucasus.Realities.