MOSCOW, February 28 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Supreme Court in 2016 overturned 36 imposed sentences because of violations found by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev said during the meeting with federal courts’ representatives on Tuesday.

Last year, Lebedev submitted to the Supreme Court’s Presidium 77 petitions taking into account the ECHR decisions. As a result, 36 delivered sentences and 31 regulations adopted within criminal legal proceedings were annulled, the Supreme Court’s Chairman said.

Rulings of the European Court of Human Rights were mainly connected with violation of people’s right to a fair trial and failure to meet reasonable deadlines for considering cases, according to Lebedev.

Interestingly, in November 2016, the Supreme Court overturned sentences against Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and his accomplice Pyotr Ofitserov in Kirovles embezzlement case and sent it for retrial. The court delivered the ruling taking into consideration the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

In February 2016, ECHR held that the applicants’ right to a fair trial had been violated and ordered Russian authorities to compensate Navalny with €48,000 of legal costs and Ofitserov with €22,000. Additionally, Russia was obliged by court to pay 8,000 euro each in damages.