MOSCOW (AP) – Russia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday scrapped a criminal conviction and sent the case of opposition leader Alexei Navalny for retrial, opening the door for his potential run for office.
Navalny was convicted in 2013 of embezzling timber worth $500,000 at the time from a state-owned company in the provincial city of Kirov in a trial which was largely perceived as a vendetta against the rising political star.
Following unsuccessful appeals in Russia, Navalny, a trained lawyer, turned to the European Court of Human Rights which ruled in February that Russia violated Alexei Navalny’s right to a fair trial, and has ordered the government to pay him legal costs and damages.
Despite the fact that Russia passed a law last year claiming the right to disregard the European court’s rulings if they conflict with the national constitution, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled to overturn the 2013 verdict and send Navalny’s case for review to be heard in Kirov.
Navalny’s conviction in 2013 came two months before the Moscow mayoral election, in which he was a candidate. Navalny won more than a quarter of the vote, a notably strong performance amid pro-Kremlin parties’ overwhelming grip on Russian politics. But when a higher court upheld his conviction later that year, Navalny was disqualified from further runs for office.