Russia’s FSB refuses to initiate criminal investigation into Navalny’s poisoning
The Investigative Department of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has refused to open a criminal case over opposition figure Alexey Navalny’s poisoning, as requested by lawyers from his non-profit, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
The FBK’s legal department reported the refusal on Wednesday, November 18, citing an official response from the FSB.
The FBK’s lawyers had asked the FSB to launch a criminal investigation on charges of developing and producing chemical weapons, due to the fact that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent. Under article 335 of Russia’s Criminal Code, this is punishable with between five and ten years in prison.
However, the FSB stated in its response that there is no basis for opening a criminal case:
We are informing you that at present there are no grounds for Federal Security Service bodies to make procedural decisions according to the facts you indicated in connection with their verification by another law enforcement agency.
The FBK’s lawyers called the response a “run-around” and filed a complaint with Moscow’s Lefortovo Court over the FSB’s inaction.
On October 15, the European Union, and subsequently the United Kingdom, announced personal sanctions against six high-level Russian officials, as well as Russia’s State Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT), where it is believed that Novichok-type nerve agents were developed during Soviet period. EU countries are demanding that Russia conduct an investigation into Navalny’s poisoning, but the country’s Investigative Committee, Attorney General’s Office, and police officials have refused to do so.
READ MORE ABOUT NAVALNY’S CASE
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- Russia to impose retaliatory sanctions against Germany and France over Navalny poisoning
- Navalny files complaint with European Court of Human Rights over Russia’s refusal to investigate his poisoning
Navalny’s poisoning
Alexey Navalny was on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow when he fell violently ill on August 20. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, where he was hospitalized in a coma; two days later he was transferred to Germany for treatment. On September 2, the German officials confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group of nerve agents. On September 7, Navalny’s doctors brought him out of his coma. He was discharged from the hospital on September 23 and is still undergoing rehabilitation in Germany.
Who?
The EU sanctions targeted FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, Putin’s head of domestic policy Andrey Yarin, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Executive Office Sergey Kiriyenko, deputy defense ministers Alexey Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov, as well as Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Siberian Federal District Sergey Menyaylo. The sanctions include a ban on entry into the EU and a freeze on all financial assets held in the union.