European Court condemns Russia over Kasparov interrogation

Strasbourg : The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Russia on Tuesday for detaining former chess champion and political activist Garry Kasparov ahead of an opposition rally in 2007.

"(The) deprivation of his liberty was found not to be justified for any lawful purpose," the ECHR, the paramount jurisdiction on human rights in Europe, said.

The case dates to May 18, 2007, when Kasparov was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where he was to board a flight to Samara, western Russia, to attend a rally at an EU-Russian summit.

Kasparov had his ticket and passport confiscated and was taken to a police office and questioned for five hours as to whether his ticket had been forged.

He was prohibited from leaving the office and an armed officer guarded the door. He missed his flight and the rally as a result.

"While the authorities claimed they had been investigating Mr Kasparov for committing the crime of forgery, there was no evidence that any forgery had taken place, let alone that the authorities had had a reasonable suspicion that he had committed that offence," the ECHR said.

"Given that his detention had not been lawful or justified, the Court held that he had therefore also been unlawfully prevented from attending the rally."

The Russian government had argued police were carrying out an operation into counterfeit air tickets that day, and 22 people, including Kasparov, had had their tickets confiscated.

Kasparov had unsuccessfully sought legal redress in Russia in 2007, before filing suit at the Strasbourg-based ECHR in November that year.

The ECHR was set up in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.

The decision is subject to the right of appeal, within the next three months, to the ECHR's top panel, the Grand Chamber.