European Court Sanctions Russia

Plaintiff Valentina Andreievna Dolkgova was arrested in December 2004 at a Moscow rally against President Vladmir Putin (file photo) (CTK) March 2, 2006 -- The European Court of Human Rights today found Russia guilty on two counts of illegal imprisonment, and ordered it to pay damages to a Kazakh banker and an opponent of President Vladimir Putin.

The banker, Lev Alexandrovich Nakhmanovich was extradited from Switzerland to Russia in 1997 on suspicion of embezzlement and held for three years. In 2004 charges against him were dropped.

The court found that nearly a year of his imprisonment had been without legal foundation and ordered Moscow to pay him $21,000.

Valentina Andreievna Dolkgova was arrested in December 2004 after taking part in an anti-Putin rally in Moscow.

She was held in provisional detention until her trial in December 2005, when she was given a three year suspended prison term for taking part in an "insurrectional movement."

The court decided Russian authorities had not justified her pre-trial detention and awarded her $7,000 in damages.

(AFP)