UN: Navalny poisoning a 'serious crime'

The office of the United Nations human rights chief called on the Russian government to carry out or cooperate with an independent investigation into the reported poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights described the poisoning as a ''serious crime that was committed on Russian soil'' and urged the Russian authorities to investigate and ''ensure the human rights of its citizens including Mister Navalny.''

“It is not good enough to simply deny he was poisoned, and deny the need for a thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into this assassination attempt,'' he said.

Navalny, a fierce, high-profile critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany last month after falling ill on August 20 on a domestic flight in Russia.

German chemical weapons experts say tests show the 44-year-old was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent, prompting the German government last week to demand that Russia investigate the case.

Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, welcomed the emergence of Navalny from a coma in a Berlin hospital, said office spokesman Rupert Colville on Monday.

“Navalny was clearly someone who needed state protection ... even if he was a political thorn in the side of the government," Bachelet said through her spokesperson.