Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny lodged a complaint against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights on Friday to contest a money-laundering investigation he says authorities have opened to thwart his political activities.

Russian investigators opened the case against Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation last August after he called on people to attend rallies that grew into Moscow's biggest sustained protest movement in years before fizzling out.

On Tuesday, Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition politician, said his bank accounts and those of his close family had been emptied and frozen, which he linked to the investigation.

"I have repeatedly faced persecution by the Russian authorities for my political activities," Navalny said in comments to the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre that is representing him and his allies in the case.