Sint Alexei Navalny in Moscow court – NRK Urix – Foreign News and Documentaries

It was a combative and battle-ready Alexei Navalny who appeared in the Moscow city court today.

The Russian prosecution wants to convert a 2014 suspended sentence into unconditional three and a half year prison.

The reason is that they believe Navalny did not follow the reporting rules last fall. Alexei Navalny was transported to Germany after being poisoned during a stay in Siberia in August 2020.

“They should have sent us documents confirming that he was in the hospital,” the Russian prosecutor’s representative told Navalny during a court hearing on Tuesday afternoon local time.

“He was in a coma,” said an outraged Alexei Navalny, who also noted that President Vladimir Putin had personally ordered that he be transported to Germany for treatment.

Navalny said Putin could risk sequelae like the one he was president and indirectly approved of being poisoned by the poisonous drug novitsjok placed in his panties.

– Putin may go down in history as “Vladimir the Panty Poisoner,” the always abused Alexei Navalny said today in court.

Expression of the weakness of the regime

When the court hearing continued at 2pm Norwegian time, after a two-hour break, Alexei Navalny repeated what he had said earlier.

– The 2014 trial against was fabricated, and was later ruled by the European Court of Human Rights, which has also paid him compensation for the time he was detained.

– The trial against me now is an expression of the weakness of the regime, said Navalny, who said he believes it is a shame that a lot of money is spent to get him convicted, while tens of millions of Russians live in poverty.

“The objective of the authorities is to scare the population,” Navalny said.

He called for himself and all those imprisoned after the demonstrations in support of him to be released immediately. According to Russian media, the Russian prosecutor asked that the sentence of three and a half years be unconditional, but that it can be served under house arrest.

Large police force

There was a large police demonstration in front of the Moscow courthouse, where the court hearing was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Norwegian time. It is the same court that in April 2019 sentenced Norwegian Frode Berg to 14 years in prison for espionage.

The cops, wearing heavy protective gear, cordoned off an entire block around the building.

NRK witnessed that several people had been arrested near the courthouse.

Occasional arrests have occurred throughout the day and, according to the human rights organization OVD-info, at least 300 people have been detained.

Navalny’s wife, Julia Navalnaja, arrived in court before the trial began Tuesday.

At the metro station closest to the court, the police have also arrested several protesters. The protesters have tried to enter the side streets, but the police have driven them away.
We are willing to patiently explain everything, but we will not react to statements resembling those of a mentor or take them into account, he said. Norwegian Embassy present

Diplomats from around 20 countries, including Norway, are also present to highlight that many countries are highly critical of the imprisonment of Russia’s most famous opposition politicians.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page that the presence of foreign diplomats in the courtroom was evidence of “Western attempts” to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference after speaking with his Swedish counterpart, Ann Linde, that the possible poisoning of Alexei Navalny could have been carried out by foreign forces seeking to harm Russia.

Ann Linde said she was very concerned about the situation of democracy, civil society and human rights in Russia. Sweden currently holds the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said Russia was open to a dialogue on Navalny, but warned that they were not receptive to criticism from the West.

Stopped at passport control

Navalny was arrested during a passport check at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on January 17.

He had then returned to his home country after nearly five months in Germany, where he received treatment after a neurotoxin attack.

He was jailed for various alleged breaches of the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence for fraud.

Actually, he should have reported to the authorities regularly, but this was difficult during the period when he was in Germany and was treated for poisoning.

If the sentence is commuted to unconditional imprisonment, the critic of the Russian regime runs the risk of having to serve three and a half years in prison.

Extensive demos

Navalny has consistently claimed that Russian authorities were behind the poisoning, and laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden have determined that he was exposed to the Russian Novitsjok poison.

The opposition politician accuses the Russian secret police FSB of being behind the orders of President Putin. The Russian authorities deny having anything to do with the case.

Navalny’s arrest has sparked widespread demonstrations in Russia, which authorities believe are illegal.

On Sunday, Russian police detained some 5,000 people in various parts of the country. Several thousand people were also arrested during the demonstrations last weekend.