“You need to wait just a little longer,” the young female border officer at the booth told me half an hour ago. I’m flying to Frankfurt—the most convenient airport city for getting to Strasbourg, where the Grand Chamber of the European Court will announce its ruling on the question of whether the numerous detentions of citizen Navalny at rallies were politically motivated.
Even though the answer seems obvious, legally the ECHR has not made such findings in many years. As for Russia, the last time was about 15 years ago. This is very important: the Kremlin and the Ministry of Justice are bending over backward to make sure such a ruling does not happen.
Obviously, for Putin-Kiriyenko-and-whoever-else-handles-this, it is a matter of principle and symbolism that I not make it to the announcement of the ruling. Personally, I don’t understand what is so sacred about it—the court will issue its decision with or without me there—but, as we know, Putin’s team are devotees of ancient beliefs, totems, drums, red strings on the wrist, and other pagan rituals. Presumably, Mother Walrus whispered this tactic to them the last time they offered her a sacrifice at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council.
And in general, “we have to make life difficult for these opposition people somehow.”
So we “waited a little,” and then the very polite border guards first seated me behind the red tape, and then informed me that I was barred from leaving the country on the basis of a letter. The letter does not state the reason.
My lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, showed the border guards messages from the ECHR confirming that I had been invited to the hearing. They took the documents and said they would check.
They have just brought an official notice saying that the Federal Bailiff Service has barred me from leaving the country. No reason is given.
I have no unpaid fines; we keep a close eye on that, and the database shows it too.
There are some pending enforcement proceedings, but they are all non-monetary in nature—orders to delete certain posts that annoy old man Putin. Those proceedings are already several years old, and the last time I traveled abroad was about two weeks ago—everything was fine. (UPDATE: while I was writing this post, the lawyers managed to reach the bailiff handling all these cases. He insists that he did not impose any travel restriction.)
So yes, it was done mockingly, of course. We’ve barred you from leaving, but we won’t tell you what we want from you.
Though, again, it’s clear what they want: don’t go wandering off to all these ECHR courts. You’ve got the Lyublinsky District Court where you live—go sue there if something doesn’t suit you.