[ad_1]
Judge Natalia Repnikova, announcing the sentence, ordered the replacement of the probation sentence imposed in 2014 by a real prison in a general correctional colony, but given the time she spent in custody, she will have to stay there for two years and eight months. .
This verdict will almost certainly be appealed.
Navaln’s team immediately called on their supporters to take to the streets in central Moscow to protest.
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.
Safeguards were dramatically strengthened Tuesday at the Moscow courthouse, where Navaln’s future fate was decided. Law enforcement and the National Guard detained at least 200 people.
The case became a serious challenge for the Kremlin and prompted calls for new Western sanctions against the government of President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier Tuesday, in a courtroom speech, A. Navalnas stressed that he would continue the political struggle with any decision.
“It is everyone’s responsibility to fight this system. And it is my duty to fight,” he said at the hearing.
“The most important thing in this process is to intimidate a large number of people,” Navalnas said at the hearing. “Is that how it works.”
“One person is locked behind bars to intimidate millions,” the opposition added.
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.
On Tuesday, Navaln once again accused Russian authorities of trying to poison him.
Recalling his team’s reports of traces of poison found in his underwear, Navaln taunted Putin and said: “This man will go down in history as an underwear poisoner.”
“I am protected by the police, half of Moscow is closed because we have shown that he is trying to steal his opponent’s underwear and smear it with chemical weapons,” he said.
“We have shown and proved that Putin, through the FSB, carried out this assassination attempt,” Navaln said.
“Now many people already know this and will learn even more, and this drives this man in the bunker crazy,” added the opposition.
Nausėda asked for sanctions against the imprisonment of Navalnas
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda calls on the European Union (EU) and world leaders to respond to the Russian court’s decision to impose royal imprisonment on the most prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalns.
“The Stalinist approach of ‘no man, no problem’ is still used in Russia. The verdict against Navalnu, handed down by a false court, is not justice but a crime against human rights and democratic values. I call on the leaders of the EU and the international community to act. Sanctions for Russia are on the table again, “wrote G. Nausėda on the social network” Twitter “.
Landsbergis: Immediate sanctions must be imposed on Navaln’s incarceration
After a Russian court sentenced the most prominent critic of the Kremlin, Alexei Navaln, to prison on Tuesday, the European Union (EU) must immediately decide on sanctions against those responsible, the Lithuanian foreign minister said.
Gabrielius Landsbergis does not rule out the possibility that if deliberations in the EU take time, Lithuania could apply sanctions to the people who initiated the arrest and imprisonment of the Russian opposition.
“I must admit that this court decision was not surprising. At a meeting of the Community’s foreign ministers in Brussels last week, we said that there was a high probability that Vladimir Putin would do everything possible to keep Mr Navaln in prison. “It was promised that if Navaln remained in prison, if he was given a real prison sentence, Europe would impose sanctions,” Landsberg told BNS.
“I hope that the promise has been realistic, so we must return to this issue immediately, without waiting for another advice,” added the minister.
According to Landsbergis, he already discussed this issue with the Latvian and Estonian foreign ministers on Tuesday.
“I think there may be united statements and appeals to like-minded people in Europe.” If we see that decisions take longer, I do not rule out the possibility that we should also consider adding to the national sanctions list people who contributed to the incarceration from A. Navaln, “said G. Landsbergis.
The United States demands the immediate and unconditional release of Navalna
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday condemned a Russian court’s decision to sentence Kremlin critic Alexei Navaln to death and called for his immediate release.
“We reiterate our call to the Russian government to release Mr.” Navalna, as well as hundreds of other Russian citizens, have been unjustly detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights, including freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, “Blinken said in a statement.
Mr. Navaln’s lawyers will appeal against his imprisonment and will address the Council of Europe.
Lawyers for Kremlin critic Alexei Navaln will seek his release and reversal of a Moscow court’s verdict on Tuesday, replacing the opposition’s 3.5-year prison sentence with actual incarceration.
“Of course we complain,” Navaln lawyer Olga Michailova told Interfax.
We will also address the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on Europe [Žmogaus Teisių Teismo, EŽTT] non-compliance, “he added.
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, Navaln 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.
Navaln, who has become Putin’s most prominent critic of Russia in the past decade, and his supporters believe 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 elective office, Navaln has earned a reputation for investigating the corruption that unmasks 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 that Navaln said was turned over to Putin through a billion-dollar 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.”
Following the verdict, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recalled that the case in which Mr. Navaln was convicted in 2014 had been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“It is a painful blow to fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in Russia. As early as 2017, the European Court of Human Rights criticized the prosecution in this case and described the verdict as unfounded. Alexei Navaln must be released immediately,” he wrote Maas on Twitter.
[ad_2]
