More than 200 supporters of Russia’s opposition leader and chief Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were arrested on Tuesday outside a three-and-a-half-year trial.
At least 287 people were arrested during the trial, days after more than 5,000 people were detained across the country for protesting in support of Navalny, according to the independent OVD-Info protest monitoring group.
Navalny received a suspended prison sentence for fraud in 2014, which the Russian authorities are now applying to become a full prison sentence for alleged parole violations. The European Court of Human Rights considers this conviction to be politically motivated.
Navalny, 44, was poisoned and nearly killed when he conducted a corruption investigation in Siberia last summer. He was transported to Germany for treatment after Russian doctors found no signs of poisoning. It was later determined that he was poisoned by Soviet nerve agent Novichok, who according to Navalny was ordered by President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
Navalny stood behind reinforced glass and joked with his wife Yulia, who was arrested during a rally last weekend and called her “a bad girl”.
Later, Navalny delivered a fiery speech in court, denying the proceedings and reiterating his claim that the case against him had been fabricated, according to a transcript provided by the Russian TV Doghd news channel. Reporters were present but could not bring cameras to the courtroom.
He said President Putin was personally behind him.
“He may pretend to be a great politician, but he will go down in history as a poisoner,” Navalny said. “We had Alexander the liberator, Yaroslav the wise, and now we will have Vladimir, the poisoner of underwear.”
Navalny referred to his own investigation into his poisoning which he said revealed that his alleged assassins smeared poison on his underwear.
The point of his trial was not to put him in jail, but to intimidate his supporters, he said.
“This process will not be seen by people as a sign of fear,” he said. “It’s a proof of weakness, not of strength.”
To illustrate the international interest in the case, foreign diplomats from at least 12 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union, were in court to observe the trial, the court told Russian news agency Interfax confirm.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, said on Facebook that the diplomats are not only present in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, but also in the West’s unscrupulous and illegal attempts to contain Russia.
While Navalny’s trial was under way, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow had reason to believe the politician’s poisoning was “a sham”, the Russian state news agency Tass reported.
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Navalny has been a thorn in Putin’s side for years with his anti-corruption investigations into the Kremlin elite. His latest investigation into a luxury palace allegedly belonging to Putin has been viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube. The Russian president denied owning the palace.
Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport when he arrived from Berlin last month, calling on his supporters and those frustrated with Putin’s regime to ‘drop their fears’ and take to the streets in protest.
His calls were heeded when tens of thousands of people joined protesters across Russia on January 23 – despite freezing temperatures, coronavirus pandemics and several warnings from Russian authorities not to attend – in one of the biggest shows of discontent which Russia has seen in recent years. Nearly 4,000 people were detained by police, some of them violently.
On Sunday, a similar crowd again took to the streets across the country amid high security in the country’s capital. More than 5,600, including journalists, were detained amid reports that police used tear gas, tasers and batons to stop protesters.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, described the protesters on Monday as “racketeers” and “provocateurs” who displayed “aggressive behavior” towards law enforcement.
Navalny’s arrest and police crackdown on protesters have angered the US and its European allies. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemns Russian authorities because they used ‘harsh tactics’ against protesters and journalists on Sunday.
This is an issue that has put pressure on both the Kremlin and President Joe Biden as he points out his foreign policy on Russia.
Yuliya Talmazan and Patrick Smith reported from London; Matt Bodner reports from Moscow.
Reuters contributed to this report.
