Navalny’s Death Highlights a New Global Division on Political Violence
The unexplained death in prison of Russianopposition leader Alexei Navalny is a symbol of global attempts to shift thebalance of power in favour of authoritarian elites, suggests Alexey Gusev in his article for the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. These elites do not see human rights activists as an obstacle to theirpersonal power, but as allies of foreign enemies who constitute easier targetsthan their distant patrons. It is mob rules - not laws - that explain thedeaths of Navalny and the mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. A good analogy,the author suggests, is Sharia law in Islamic countries where religious rules outweighcivil law. These ideas are a potent antithesis to Western influence: not onlyinternational treaties, but the principles of the rule of law are under attack.
https://carnegieendowment.org
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