A Moscow court rules on the imprisonment of Kremlin critic A. Navaln

Over the past two weekends, tens of thousands of people have protested in Moscow and other cities across the country against the 44-year-old detention of an anti-corruption activist. The police arrested thousands of people during the protests.

Law enforcement officers also detained several hundred people Tuesday in a Moscow court, where a judge is currently deciding whether to impose an actual prison sentence on the Navalns for violating the terms of a one-year probation sentence and medium.

The case became a serious challenge for the Kremlin and prompted calls for new Western sanctions against the government of President Vladimir Putin.

A reporter from the AFP news agency told the court, where reporters were allowed to watch the broadcast of the meeting from another room, that the meeting began in the presence of A. Navalns.

The opposition demanded that journalists be allowed into the courtroom.

A large security force is on duty in the courthouse, and A. Navaln’s comrades urge his supporters to go to court.

Police prepared for riots by fencing off the building.

Police have already detained more than 200 people in the judicial district, Alexei Melnikov, executive secretary of Moscow’s Public Human Rights Monitoring Commission, told the Interfax news agency.

Photo by Scanpix / ITAR-TASS / People detained near the Moscow city court before the Navaln hearing

“According to our data, more than 200 people are currently in detention,” he said.

Some detainees were transferred to police stations.

Navaln was arrested at the Moscow airport on January 17, less than an hour after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was being treated for his nerve paralyzing substance Novičiok, created by Soviet scientists after his poisoning last summer.

The opposition accuses the Federal Security Service (FSB) of carrying out the attack on Putin’s instructions. The Kremlin categorically denies it.

Corruption investigations

A. Navalnas is accused of violating the conditions of the probation sentence that was imposed on him in the embezzlement case in 2014, as he did not come to Germany to register with the Russian Prison Service twice a month.

On parole, A. Navalnas spent a year under house arrest. His brother Oleg is serving his entire prison sentence.

Opposition lawyers told AFP that he now faces up to two and a half years in prison because he served part of his sentence under house arrest.

Photo by Scanpix / ITAR-TASS / Alexei Navalna in court

Navaln, who has become the most famous critic of Putin in Russia over the past decade, and his supporters believe that the 2014 case was a retaliation by the government for his political activities. They say the Kremlin is now trying to shut it down.

Although he has never held a popularly elected office, Navaln has earned a reputation for investigating the corruption that exposes the lavish lifestyle of the Russian elite.

Two days after his arrest, his team announced an investigation into a luxury property on the Black Sea, which Navaln said was handed over to Putin under a $ 1 billion scheme funded by his close allies leading in state-owned companies.

The study was published alongside a YouTube video that was viewed by more than 100 million people. together.

Navaln’s arrest and corruption allegations have sparked protests across the country for the past two weekends. During the action last Sunday, the police closed down central Moscow and detained more than 5.4 thousand. people is a one-day record.

The West condemned Navaln’s arrest and the mass arrests during the street protests.

The United States and the European Union have called for Navalna’s immediate release and condemned the police violence against the protesters.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will raise the Navaln issue during his visit to Moscow this week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said the case was an “internal matter” and added: “We will not allow anyone to interfere.”