MOSCOW (AP) – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny faced a court hearing on Tuesday that could end with years of imprisonment and more protests against the Kremlin.
44-year-old Navalny, an anti-corruption investigator who is President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, was arrested Jan. 17 when he returned from Germany, where he recovered for five months from a nerve poisoning he blames. the Kremlin. The Russian authorities have denied the charges and, despite testing by several European laboratories, claim that they have no evidence that he was poisoned.
The Russian correctional service alleges that Navalny violated the probation conditions of his suspended sentence following a 2014 money laundering conviction that he dismissed as politically motivated. It has asked the Simonovsky District Court in Moscow to convert his 3 1/2 years suspended sentence into a prison sentence that he has to serve.
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 to demand his release and chanting slogans against Putin. Police detained more than 5,750 people at Sunday’s rallies, including more than 1,900 in Moscow, the largest number the nation has seen since Soviet times. Most were released after a court summons and faced fines or imprisonment of seven to 15 days. Several people were prosecuted for alleged violence against the police.
Navalny’s team on Tuesday called for another demonstration outside the Moscow courthouse, but police were there, cordoning off nearby streets and making arbitrary arrests. More than 230 people were detained, according to the OVD Info group that oversees arrests.
Some Navalny supporters still managed to approach the courthouse. 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.
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, with Western officials calling for his release and condemning the arrests of protesters.
“Sweden and the EU are concerned about the situation with democracy, civil society and human rights in Russia,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, current chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, during talks with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. in Moscow.
The diplomat said the poisoning of Navalny and the response of the Russian authorities to the street protests will be part of the discussion.
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 dismissed criticisms from US and EU officials as meddling in domestic affairs, saying Navalny’s current situation is a procedural matter in court, not a matter for the government.
More than a dozen Western diplomats attended the trial on Tuesday, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova accused their presence as part of the West’s efforts to contain Russia, adding that it was could be an attempt to exert “psychological pressure” on the judge.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia is ready for a dialogue on Navalny, but sternly warned it would ignore 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.