MOSCOW (AP) – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday faced a court hearing that could end up being sent to prison for years and fueling more protests against the Kremlin.
Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption investigator and a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 when he returned from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from nervous breakdown who blames the Kremlin. Russian authorities deny the accusation and claim, despite tests by several European laboratories, that they have no evidence that he was poisoned.
Russia’s prison service alleges that Navalny violated the parole conditions of his suspended sentence by the 2014 money laundering conviction he has rejected for political motivation. He has asked Moscow’s Simonovsky district court to turn his 3-and-a-half-year suspended sentence into one he must serve in prison.
Navalny and his lawyers have argued that while recovering from poisoning in Germany, he could not personally register with the Russian authorities, as required by his parole. Navalny also insisted that his rights were violated under the trial during his detention and described his imprisonment as false justice.
“I returned to Moscow after completing the course of treatment,” Navalny said during Tuesday’s hearing. “What else could I have done?”
Navalny Prison has sparked mass protests across Russia over the past two weekends, in which tens of thousands took to the streets to demand their release, chanting slogans against Putin. Police detained more than 5,750 people during Sunday’s rallies, including more than 1,900 in Moscow, the largest number the nation has seen since Soviet times. Most were released after receiving a court summons, and face fines or prison sentences of seven to 15 days. Several people were charged with crimes of alleged violence against police.
Navalny’s team called for another demonstration on Tuesday in front of the Moscow courthouse, but police were out of force, cordoning off nearby streets and making random arrests. More than 230 people were arrested, according to the OVD-Info group that monitors the arrests.
Some Navalny supporters still managed to get close to the courthouse. A young woman climbed a large pile of snow down the street from the court and raised a sign that said “Freedom to Navalny.” Less than a minute later, a police officer took her away.
Following his arrest, Navalny’s team posted a two-hour YouTube video of an opulent Black Sea residence allegedly built for Putin. The video has been viewed more than 100 million times, fueling discontent as ordinary Russians struggle with an economic recession, the coronavirus pandemic and widespread corruption during Putin’s tenure.
Putin insisted last week that neither he nor his relatives own any of the properties mentioned in the video and that his lifelong confidant, construction mogul Arkady Rotenberg, claimed ownership.
As part of efforts to crush the protests, authorities have directed Navalny associates and activists across the country. His brother Oleg, top ally Lyubov Sobol and several others were arrested at home for two months and face criminal charges for violating coronavirus restrictions.
Navalny prison and repression of protests have sparked international outrage, Western officials are demanding his release and condemn the arrests of protesters.
“Sweden and the EU are concerned about the situation of democracy, civil society and human rights in Russia,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, the current president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation. in Europe, during talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
The diplomat said Navalny’s intoxication and the Russian authorities’ response to the street protests will be part of the discussion.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who will visit Moscow later this week, has criticized the arrests and the disproportionate use of force against protesters, stressing that Russia must fulfill its international commitments in matter of human rights.
Russia has dismissed criticism of US and EU officials as meddling in its internal affairs and said Navalny’s current situation is a matter of procedure for the court, not a problem for the government.
More than a dozen Western diplomats attended Tuesday’s court hearing, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused her presence of being part of Western efforts to contain Russia. and added that it could be an attempt to exert “psychological pressure” on the judge.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Russia is ready for dialogue on Navalny, but sternly warned that it would not heed Western criticism.
“We are willing to patiently explain everything, but we will not react to mentor-style statements or take them into account,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.