Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny will ride a bus from an airplane to a terminal at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on January 17, 2021.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
According to his spokesman, Russian authorities have held opposition politician Alexei Navalny in custody for 30 days after a hasty trial at a police station.
Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter on Monday that a judge had decided that Navalny would remain in police custody until February 15. She added that it was not yet known where he would be held during this period.
“They were held at the border, taken in an unknown direction, the lawyer was not allowed, the trial was rushed to the police and arrested for 30 days,” Yarmysh said upon hearing the verdict, according to a translation.
“It can’t even be called a parody of legality,” she added.
It comes after Russian authorities arrested Navalny on Sunday evening when his flight from Berlin, Germany, landed at an airport in Moscow. It was the first time Navalny had returned to the country since he was poisoned last summer.
His detention had been ordered by the Moscow Prison Service in connection with alleged violations of a suspended prison sentence.
“Don’t be afraid, take to the streets. Don’t get ahead of me, get out for yourself and your future,” Navalny said in a YouTube video after the judge’s decision, according to a Reuters translation.
The United Nations, government officials and rights advocates have done just that they all called for Russia to release Navalny immediately, while some countries had pushed for possible sanctions.
In response, Moscow said that Navalny’s case had received “artificial” resonance in the West.
‘It Doesn’t Get More Lawless Than This’
Navalny is widely regarded as the most prominent and determined critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The 44-year-old activist was recovering in Germany after narrowly surviving what has since been independently confirmed as Novichok nerve agent poisoning in August. 20.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia are seen at the passport checkpoint at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on January 17, 2021.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
Navalny has said he believes Putin has ordered the poisoning to continue, reportedly in October last year that he sees no other explanation.
The Putin government denies that Navalny was poisoned, although investigative reporters have since released evidence to support Navalny’s claims.
In a video posted by Yarmysh on Monday morning, Navalny was shown complaining about the absurdity of an impromptu court hearing at Khimki Police Station, near Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. “It doesn’t get any more lawless than this,” he said, according to an NBC translation.