Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been allowed to fly out of Russia to attend the finale of a case he filed at Europe’s top human rights court, a day after border guards stopped him leaving the country.

Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, wants to be in Strasbourg on Thursday when the European court of human rights is due to rule on whether his numerous detentions by police in Russia have been politically motivated or not.

He was prevented from flying out of Moscow on Tuesday over an unpaid court fine, which he said had been suddenly and illegally enforced as a pretext to stop him travelling abroad.

The Federal Bailiffs Service, which blocked his exit, did not respond to a request for comment regarding Navalny’s allegations that its actions were illegal.

However, it told the Tass news agency on Tuesday evening that it had rescinded the travel ban after Navalny had paid the fine.

The 42-year-old lawyer posted a photograph on social media of himself passing through passport control at a Moscow airport on Wednesday and said he had encountered no problems leaving the country this time.