On January 17, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny will travel by bus from a plane to a terminal at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
According to his spokesman, the Russian authorities detained opposition politician Alexei Navalny for 30 days after a heated court hearing in a police station.
Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter on Monday that a judge has ruled Navalny will be held in police custody until February 15. She added that it is not yet known where he will be detained during this period.
“They were detained at the border, taken away in an unknown direction, the lawyer was not allowed, the trial was conducted urgently in the police department and was arrested for 30 days,” Yarmysh said according to the verdict, according to a translation.
“It can not even be called a parody of legality,” she added.
This comes after Russian authorities arrested Navalny on Sunday night when his flight from Berlin, Germany ended up in an airport in Moscow. It was the first time Navalny had returned to the country since being poisoned last summer.
His prison service ordered his detention in connection with alleged violations of a suspended prison sentence.
“Do not be afraid, go to the streets. Do not go out for me, go out for yourself and your future,” Navalny was quoted as saying by a Reuters translation in a video posted on YouTube following the judge’s ruling. .
The United Nations, government officials and advocacy groups have all have called on Russia to release Navalny immediately, while some countries are pushing for possible sanctions.
In response, Moscow said Navalny’s case had received “artificial” resonance in the West.
‘It does not become more lawless than this’
Navalny is widely regarded as the most prominent and determined critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 44-year-old activist was regularly detained by authorities and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups.
Navalny has recovered in Germany after barely surviving what has since been independently confirmed by a Novichok nerve agent as poisoning. 20.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia will be seen on January 17, 2021 at the passport control point at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
Navalny said he believed Putin had ordered the poisoning to continue, and reportedly said in October last year that he saw no other explanation.
Putin’s government denies poisoning Navalny, though investigative reporters have since published evidence to support Navalny’s allegations.
In a video posted by Yarmysh on Monday morning, Navalny was shown complaining about the absurdity of a temporary court hearing at the Khimki police station near the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. “It’s not getting any more lawless than that,” he said according to an NBC translation.
A joint statement by the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – three former Soviet republics – on Monday called on the EU to consider the ‘introduction of restrictive measures in response to these blatant actions’ if Navalny is not released from detention not.
They described Navalny’s arrest as “completely unacceptable”.
Meanwhile, the director of Amnesty International’s office in Moscow, Natalia Zviagina, said: “The arrest of Alexei Navalny is further proof that Russian authorities want to silence him.”
She added: “His detention only underscores the need to investigate his allegations that he was poisoned by state agents acting on the orders of the highest levels.”