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As his popularity has dipped – especially with a rapid rise in food prices – Russian President Vladimir Putin has resorted to a tactic common for today’s autocrats: arbitrary arrests of opponents. Last month, for example, more than 100,000 people attended peaceful rallies against the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Over 11,000 were arrested.

Even one of Mr. Putin’s erstwhile supporters in Europe, German leader Angela Merkel, noted this month that Russia is drifting away from democratic rule of law, using the justice system to stifle dissent.

Mr. Navalny himself explained this tactic during a court hearing Feb. 2 in which he was sentenced to nearly three years in prison on bogus charges: “They try to shut people up with these show trials. Lock up this one to scare millions more,” he said.

Having been in jail more than a dozen times as well as poisoned last year, this leading dissident also gave a bit of advice to his fellow Russians. “I urge everyone not to be afraid,” he said in the courtroom. A political system built on “lawlessness and arbitrariness” only shows its weakness. “We are the same citizens. We demand normal justice,” he added.

On Feb. 17, Mr. Navalny won a strong endorsement of his views. In a ruling, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanded his release, warning that a failure to do so would be a breach of the country’s legal obligations. Russia is one of 47 members of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.

For decades, Russian citizens that were unhappy with treatment in domestic courts have sought justice before the ECHR. Based in Strasbourg, France, the court interprets the convention. Yet the more Mr. Putin loses support at home and cracks down on dissent, the more he has had to defy rulings by the court.

This latest ruling for Mr. Navalny may be the court’s most important. It clearly exposes the whim of personal rule in Russia. Once exposed, either by protesters in Russia or on the international stage, that type of governance begins to lose its legitimacy.

Mr. Navalny’s popularity has risen mainly because he stands for equality before the law, a universal idea rooted in the dignity and goodness of individual conscience. His cause has now received a bright light of justice from the European court, one that will be hard for Russians to ignore.

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