Alexey Navalny must remain in custody before being heard next month, the Russian court ruled

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Navalny appeared to the court in the city of Khimki, on the outskirts of Moscow, via a video link. He is still being held in the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center in the northeast of the capital.

The opposition activist was ordered to spend 30 days in custody during an unexpected hearing on Jan. 18.
He had been detained the day before after arriving from Germany, where he recovered for five months from Novichok poisoning that he blamed on the Russian government. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Navalny was placed on the country’s federal wanted list last month for probation violation in connection with a years-long fraud case, which he dismisses as politically motivated.

The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service has asked a court to replace his suspended sentence with imprisonment. If the request is granted, Navalny will likely face a 3.5-year sentence.

According to his aides, Russian law enforcement officers conducted searches of Navalny’s Moscow apartment and his team’s headquarters on Wednesday.

The raids came when Navalny’s allies called for a second round of unapproved nationwide demonstrations, scheduled for Sunday, to demand the activist’s release from prison.

CNN’s Mary Ilyushina reported from Moscow and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. Anna Chernova contributed to this report.

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