Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is traveling by bus from a plane to a terminal at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on January 17, 2021.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
Russian authorities have detained opposition politician Alexei Navalny for 30 days, according to his spokesman, after a court hearing inside a police station.
Kira Yarmysh said on Monday on Twitter that a judge had ruled that Navalny would remain in police custody until February 15. He added that it was not yet known where he would be detained during that period.
“They were detained at the border, taken in an unknown direction, the lawyer was not allowed, the trial was urgently carried out in the police department and he was arrested for 30 days,” Yarmysh said on learning of the verdict. , according to a translation.
“It can’t even be called a parody of legality,” he added.
It comes after Russian authorities arrested Navalny on Sunday evening when his flight from Berlin (Germany) landed at a Moscow airport. It was the first time Navalny had returned to the country since he was poisoned last summer.
The Moscow prison service ordered his arrest in connection with the alleged violations of a suspended prison sentence.
“Don’t be afraid, get out on the street. Don’t get out for me, get out for yourself and for your future,” Navalny said in a video posted on YouTube after the judge’s decision, according to a Reuters translation.
The United Nations, government officials and rights groups have all called on Russia to release Navalny immediately, while some countries had pushed for possible sanctions.
In response, Moscow said Navalny’s case had received “artificial” resonance in the West.
“It’s no more illegal than that”
Navalny is widely regarded as the most prominent and determined critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 44-year-old activist has been frequently detained by authorities and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups.
Navalny had recovered in Germany after narrowly surviving what has been independently confirmed as intoxication by a nerve agent in Novichok in August. 20.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia are seen at the passport checkpoint at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport on January 17, 2021.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
Navalny has said he believes Putin ordered further intoxication, he reported in October last year that he sees no further explanation.
The Putin government denies poisoning Navalny, although investigative journalists have since published evidence to support Navalny’s claims.
In a video released by Yarmysh on Monday morning, Navalny was shown complaining about the absurdity of an impromptu court hearing at the Khimki police station near Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. “It doesn’t get any more illegal than that,” he said, according to an NBC translation.
A joint statement by the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – three former Soviet republics – on Monday called on the EU to consider “imposing restrictive measures in response to this flagrant act” if Navalny is not released from custody. .
They called Navalny’s arrest “completely unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty International’s office director Natalia Zviagina said: “The arrest of Aleksei Navalny is another piece of evidence that Russian authorities are trying to silence him.”
He added: “His arrest only highlights the need to investigate his allegations that he was poisoned by state agents acting on orders from the highest levels.”