Moscow – A Russian court on Thursday upheld the 30-day arrest warrant for opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The court rejected an appeal for Navalny’s immediate release, assuring that President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic will remain behind bars while his allies – those who have not themselves been taken into custody – plan a new series of mass protests across the country for this weekend. .
Thursday’s hearing followed a wave of police raids on dozens of Moscow locations, detaining many of Navalny’s allies and his brother.
Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
Navalny, 44, was detained earlier this month at a Moscow airport immediately after returning from Germany, where he recovered for the past five months from poisoning with the deadly Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. He believes the attack took place in Russia, on Putin’s orders, an allegation that the Kremlin has denied.
The opposition politician was placed on remand on charges of violating the terms of a previous suspended sentence, which stemmed from a previous conviction that Navalny dismissed as politically motivated.
Navalny spoke to the Moscow region court on a video link from prison on Thursday and condemned the criminal proceedings against him as an attempt by the authorities to intimidate him.
“A huge number of people, tens of millions of people agree with me,” he told the court. “We will never allow these people to take over our country and steal it.”
Mstyslav Chernov / AP
He also expressed support for fellow activists who have facing prosecution since participating in massive, rural street protests about his detention last weekend. The court quickly dismissed his appeal against the arrest.
The protests in more than 100 Russian cities last Saturday were not sanctioned by the Russian authorities, and police responded by taking about 3,500 people into custody.
Navalny’s own arrest after the poisoning test, which left him in hospital in a serious condition for weeks, has led to conviction by senior US and European officials. State Secretary Antony Blinken said this week that the United States was “very concerned” about Navalny’s security.
“The bigger point is that his voice is the voice of many, many, many Russians, and it should be heard, not muzzled,” Blinken said during his first official briefing on Wednesday, adding that Biden’s new government had not ruled out any actions in response.
Navalny’s brother Oleg, as well as his prominent allies Lyubov Sobol and Anastasia Vasilyeva, and Maria Alyokhina, one of the members of the activist Pussy Riot collective, were among those detained on Wednesday night in connection with criminal investigations in connection with last weekend’s protests .