MOSCOW (AP) – A court in Moscow on Tuesday sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to more than 2 1/2 years in prison on charges that he violated the terms of his probation while recovering from nerve gas poisoning in Germany, a ruling that sure to spark more protests across the country.
Just before the ruling, Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, had denounced the proceedings as a futile attempt by the Kremlin to scare millions of Russians into submission. His team called on the Russians to immediately protest in the center of Moscow.
The ruling came despite massive protests across Russia over the past two weekends and Western calls to liberate the 44-year anti-corruption campaign.
The jail sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny dismissed as fabricated and politically motivated.
Navalny was arrested on January 17 as he returned from his five-month recovery in Germany after the attack, which he blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities deny any involvement. Despite tests by several European laboratories, the Russian authorities said they have no evidence that he has been poisoned.
While the order was being read, Navalny smiled and pointed to his wife Yulia in the courtroom and drew the outline of a heart on the glass cage in which he was held. “Everything will be fine,” he said to her as the guards took him away.
Earlier in the proceedings, Navalny attributed his arrest to Putin’s “fear and hatred” and said the Russian leader will go down in history as a “poison mixer.”
“I seriously insulted him by the assassination attempt he ordered to survive,” he said.
“The purpose of that hearing is to scare a large number of people,” added Navalny. “You can’t jail the whole country.”
The Russian penitentiary alleges that Navalny violated the terms of his suspended sentence after the 2014 conviction. It asked Simonovsky’s court to convert his 3 1/2 year suspended sentence into a sentence he has to serve in prison, although he has spent about a year of it under house arrest, which is now counted as serving time.
Navalny stressed that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that his 2014 conviction was unlawful and that Russia paid him compensation in accordance with the ruling.
Navalny and his lawyers have argued that while he was recovering from the poisoning in Germany, he was unable to personally register with the Russian authorities as required by his probation. Navalny also insisted that his rights to a fair trial were grossly violated during his arrest and described his imprisonment as a mockery of justice.
“I came back to Moscow after I finished treatment,” Navalny said at Tuesday’s hearing. “What could I have done differently?”
Navalny’s imprisonment has sparked massive protests across Russia over the past two weekends, with tens of thousands taking to the streets demanding his release and chanting slogans against Putin. Police detained more than 5,750 people on Sunday, including more than 1,900 in Moscow, the largest number the nation has seen since Soviet times. Most were released after being subpoenaed and faced fines or imprisonment of seven to 15 days. Several people were prosecuted for alleged violence against the police.
“I fight and will continue to do it, even though I am now in the hands of people who like to put chemical weapons everywhere and no one would give three kopecks for my life,” said Navalny.
Navalny’s team on Tuesday called for a demonstration outside the Moscow courthouse, but police were in action, cordoning off nearby streets and making arbitrary arrests. According to the OVD Info group that monitors arrests, more than 320 people have been detained.
Some Navalny supporters still managed to approach the building. A young woman climbed a large pile of snow across the street from the courthouse and held up a poster that read “Freedom to Navalny.” Less than a minute later, a police officer took her.
Hours before the ruling, authorities also cordoned off Red Square and other parts of central Moscow, as well as the Palace Square in Saint Petersburg in anticipation of protests. Police overrun the centers of both cities.
In court, Navalny thanked the protesters for their courage and urged other Russians not to fear repression.
“Millions cannot be imprisoned,” he said. “You stole people’s futures and you are now trying to scare them. I urge everyone not to be afraid. “
Observers noted that authorities want Navalny in prison for fear that he could run an effective campaign against the Kremlin’s main party, United Russia, in the parliamentary elections in September. “If Navalny remains free, he is absolutely able to bury the Kremlin’s plans regarding the outcome of the State Duma elections,” said political analyst Abbas Gallyamov.
Following his arrest, Navalny’s team released a two-hour YouTube video showing a lavish Black Sea residence allegedly built for Putin. The video has been viewed more than 100 million times, fueling discontent as ordinary Russians grapple with an economic downturn, the coronavirus pandemic and widespread corruption during Putin’s tenure.
Putin last week insisted that neither he nor his family members own any of the properties mentioned in the video, and his confidant, construction magnate Arkady Rotenberg, claimed he owns it.
As part of efforts to quell the protests, authorities have targeted Navalny’s employees and activists across the country. His brother Oleg, ally Lyubov Sobol, and several others were placed under house arrest for two months and are facing criminal charges for violating coronavirus restrictions.
Navalny’s capture and crackdown on protests have sparked international outrage.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab denounced Tuesday’s ruling.
“The UK is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexei Navalny and all peaceful protesters and journalists arrested in the past two weeks,” Raab said. “Today’s perverse statement, targeting the victim of a poisoning rather than those responsible, shows that Russia is failing to fulfill the most fundamental obligations expected of a responsible member of the international community.”
Earlier Tuesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, current chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, visited Moscow to release Navalny and condemned the crackdown on protests.
Josep Borrell, head of EU foreign policy, who will visit Moscow later this week, has criticized the detentions and disproportionate use of force against protesters, and stressed the need for Russia to honor its international human rights obligations.
Russia has rejected criticism from the US and the EU for meddling in internal affairs, saying that Navalny’s current situation is a procedural matter in court, not a matter for the government.
More than a dozen Western diplomats attended the hearing, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said their presence was part of the West’s efforts to contain Russia, adding that it was a attempt could be to exert “psychological pressure” on the judge.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is ready for a dialogue on Navalny, but sternly warned it would disregard Western criticism.
“We are ready to explain everything patiently, but we will not respond to mentor-style statements and take them into account,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
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Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.