Kasparov wins Euro court ruling for arrest

STRASBOURG - Agence France-Presse

Former chess champion Garry Kasparov (R) was arrested for scuffling with riot police during a protest a week ahead of a legislative elections in 2007. AFP photo

The European Court of Human Rights rapped Oct.3 Russia over the 2007 arrest of former world chess champion turned opposition activist Garry Kasparov and ordered it to pay 10,000 euros in damages.

The anti-Kremlin politician was one of hundreds of people arrested ahead of a Moscow demonstration called in April 2007 in protest at the policies of President Vladimir Putin. At the time leader of the opposition coalition The Other Russia, Kasparov was held in a police station for five hours before being brought before a court that fined him for taking part in an unsanctioned protest.

The European court found that the arrest of the chess great and and eight fellow plaintiffs had been “disproportionate to the aim of maintaining public order.” It ruled that Russia had violated articles in the European Convention on Human Rights covering the right to a fair trial, and freedom of assembly and association.