brought by Vladlen Stepanov. © Photo Georgy Alburov (@alburov). 

On 13 June 2012 blogger and public figure Aleksei Navalny made an application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg concerning violations against the "right to a fair trial" and "freedom of expression" (Articles 6 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms). 

The grounds for the application are a number of decisions taken by Russian courts binding Navalny to retract several facts stated by the unknown creators of a video clip that he had put up on his blog. The video clip mentions state officials that are party to the embezzlement of 5.4 billion roubles from the state budget, and refers in particular to former tax official Olga Stepanova and her husband and entrepreneur Vladlen Stepanov. The announcement regarding this application was made on 13 June by Aleksei Navalny's legal representative, Ramil Akhmetgaliev, a lawyer and legal analyst at the Agora Human Rights Association. [Read more]