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Status: 02.02.2021 7:39 pm
A Moscow court sentenced Russian Kremlin critic Navalny to three and a half years in prison. The 44-year-old man had violated probation conditions in a previous criminal case, hence the motive.
The Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been sentenced by a Moscow court to three and a half years in a prison camp. The 44-year-old had violated parole requirements multiple times in previous criminal proceedings in 2014, the court said. Therefore, a previous trial sentence has now been converted into a real prison sentence.
“They were treating me in Germany,” Navalny said in the courtroom ahead of the Kremlin-appointed judge Natalia Repnikova’s verdict. President Vladimir Putin’s opponent had recovered for five months from an attack with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in Berlin and Baden-Württemberg. His defense attorneys announced immediately after the verdict that they would appeal.
“Vladimir, the underpants poisoner”
During the trial, Navalny made it clear that he had been unable to contact Moscow in person due to treatment in Germany. He used his emotional court appearance, which the media described as “historic”, for a new attack on Putin. The president will go down in history as “Vladimir, the poisoner of his underwear.”
Navalny recalled that he had barely survived an assassination attempt with the neurotoxin in August. He blames Putin and agents of the FSB national secret service for the attack. The “assassin squad” is said to have wet his underwear with the poison. “Their only instrument of struggle is to kill,” Navalny said of Putin. President Putin and the FSB had rejected the attack accusations.
Judge Repnikova urged the opposition not to get involved in politics in court. Navalny, on the other hand, appealed to people to overcome their fear.
Anti-terrorist police on duty
An unprecedented police presence patrolled the courthouse. Hundreds of OMON special police, who specialize in counterterrorism, guarded the Moscow Municipal Court and cordoned off it with metal bars. In this way, the state power prepared against the protests spontaneously announced by the Nawalny supporters. The independent website ovdinfo.org reported more than 300 arrests in one day.
At night, the center of Moscow, including Red Square, was cordoned off. The first arrests, including many journalists, were made before the trial began. The access roads to the court were closed and dozens of trucks of prisoners were waiting.
Navalny’s wife cries when the verdict is pronounced
Navalny’s wife, Julia Navalnaya, who was wearing a black mask, also appeared at the trial. Navalny stood at a glass case in the courtroom and spoke with his wife, the Internet channel Doschd reported. “They showed you on TV in my cell and said you constantly disturb public order. Bad girl! I’m proud of you,” he said.
Navalnaya was last arrested twice during the protests. On Monday she was fined the equivalent of 219 euros. The 44-year-old cried when the verdict was announced.
“Aren’t you listening to the president?”
At the time Navalny was recovering from the assassination attempt in Germany, he allegedly failed to inform the Russian authorities, contrary to what was required in the earlier controversial criminal proceedings. Therefore, the penal system sent him to a registry and announced that it would seek to convert probation into a prison sentence.
The prison system required three and a half years in prison. Navalny violated the reporting obligation a total of seven times, the court said. In addition, a fine equivalent to 5,400 euros was claimed. In response to the allegations, Navalny said that even Putin had publicly announced that the “patient” was in Germany. “Aren’t you listening to the president?” He asked in court.
European politicians demand immediate release
Nawalny’s conviction drew international criticism. “First poison Navalny and then put him in jail because he was in a coma and did not meet the requirements for parole? Pure cynicism,” wrote Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Twitter. He provided his criticism with the hashtag “FreeNavalny”.
The British government also responded immediately and demanded the immediate release of the opposition leader. “Today’s perverse decision, directed against the victim of the poisoning and not against those responsible, shows that Russia is failing to fulfill the most fundamental obligations expected of a responsible member of the international community,” Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said.
He also called for the release of “all peaceful protesters and journalists” who were recently detained during the protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin. This year, Great Britain chairs the G7 group of the largest industrialized countries.
