This is Mr Navalny’s first long sentence confirmed on appeal in nearly a decade of run-ins with the authorities.
Returning to Russia in January from convalescence in Germany after a poisoning for which he holds President Vladimir Putin responsible, Alexeï Navalny was arrested upon his arrival. He was then sentenced, on February 2, to two years and eight months in prison.
On Saturday, a Moscow judge slightly reduced this sentence by a month and a half, taking into account a period spent by the opponent under house arrest, according to an AFP journalist present at the hearing.
In the end, the 44-year-old anti-corruption activist will have to serve a sentence of around two and a half years in prison. In this case, the justice converted a suspended prison sentence for fraud dating from 2014 into a firm sentence, for violation of judicial review.
Present at the hearing, with a smiling face, the opponent rejected the accusation, saying that he had never wanted to escape the Russian authorities by going to Germany, and to have warned them of his return.
“I bought a ticket and told everyone I was coming home […] It’s just absurd, ”he told the judge.
PHOTO ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
–
Prosecutor Elizaveta Frolova retaliated, saying the opponent had “openly and brazenly” defied the law.
“Our country is built on injustice,” said Navalny before the verdict was delivered. Calling himself a believer, he also quoted from the Bible: “Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. ”
He further mentioned a passage from Harry Potter on “the importance” of not “feeling alone” because that is what Voldemort, the enemy of the famous young wizard would want.
A spokeswoman for the Moscow courthouse told AFP on Friday that the prison services would be free, if his imprisonment was confirmed, to transfer the opponent to a labor camp.
A legacy of the Soviet Union, most prison sentences in Russia are served in prison camps sometimes located far from everything. The work of prisoners, usually in sewing or furniture workshops, is compulsory.
Denouncing an “expected” decision, one of Mr. Navalny’s lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, said his client was going to appeal in cassation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, maintained that this sentence would not change the “rich and pluralist” political landscape of Russia ahead of the legislative elections in September.
Second trial in progress
Alexeï Navalny also appeared on Saturday afternoon before another judge in a trial for “defamation” of a veteran of the Second World War.
The prosecution requested a fine of 950,000 rubles in this case (approximately 16,200 Canadian dollars) and also demanded that the opponent’s stay be converted into a prison.
“You humiliate and insult the veterans by using this one as a puppet,” Mr. Navalny denounced.
These two hearings come as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this week asked for the activist’s release, arguing a risk to his life. This decision was immediately rejected by Moscow.
Alexeï Navalny, whose incarceration in January had led to three days of repressed demonstrations, denounces procedures set up from scratch and has spent previous hearings defying the court.
According to him, the Kremlin wants to throw him in prison to silence him, after failing to kill him by poisoning him last summer, which Moscow denies.
Other cases are pending against Mr. Navalny. An investigation for fraud, punishable by 10 years in prison, targets him in particular.
The European Union and the United States have stepped up calls to release him, while his collaborators urged the West to sanction Russian officials close to Vladimir Putin.
Moscow sees it as “interference” and has threatened the Europeans with reprisals.
–
