Today's ruling by the European Court is truly a major victory.
The Putin government's arguments have been completely demolished.
We prevailed on all seven instances of detention and arrest examined in the case.
Violations were found of every article of the European Convention that we had invoked in our complaint.
Most importantly, a violation of Article 18 was found. The arrests were recognized as politically motivated.
It was far from obvious that we would achieve this. In cases against Russia, the ECHR had not found a violation of Article 18 for some 15 years. The last time was in the Gusinsky case.
None of my previous cases involved Article 18.
Finding a violation of Article 18 in relation to arrests and detentions is a serious shift in the European Court's case law, and it was by no means certain that the court was prepared to go that far.
To be honest, I was preparing for us to win today on every point except Article 18, and for me to have to put on a brave face. You know, a victory of sorts, but without the most important part.
And yet it happened. What's more, the judges' vote was 14 to 3. That means an overwhelming majority of the judges came down on our side. I won't bog you down with legal details, but believe me: this is enormously important.
This ruling will obviously matter for future case law, and its significance extends far beyond me personally—to the huge number of people across Russia who are regularly seized and jailed for plainly political reasons. Everyone can see that, but the Russian government could always say: even the ECHR does not consider these cases political. That argument will no longer work.
Congratulations to all the lawyers. My congratulations and thanks as well to the wonderful team of attorneys who worked on the case. And congratulations, more broadly, to all decent people who welcome the triumph of justice.
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