Dozens of countries including the United States called on Russia on Friday to release Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny saying his imprisonment was unlawful and demanding an investigation into his poisoning last year.
In a statement read out by Poland to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, they said that actions by Russian authorities against the opposition leader were “unacceptable and politically motivated”. The 45 countries were mainly European but also included Australia, Canada, and Japan.
Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed for two and a half years last month over alleged parole violations related to an embezzlement case he said was trumped up for political reasons, something the authorities deny.
“We call on the Russian Federation for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Navalny and of all those unlawfully or arbitrarily detained, including for exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of religion or belief,” the joint statement said.
“We are also concerned by the large number of arbitrary arrests of protesters who were expressing their support for Mr. Navalny in many Russian cities,” the statement added.
Russia has previously described such criticism as interference in its internal affairs.
Britain’s ambassador, Julian Braithwaite, said it was “disgraceful” that Navalny, who was poisoned last year with what Western countries say was a military-grade nerve agent, had been jailed while the poisoning was not investigated.
