| Russian police are suppressing protesters demanding the release of dissident Alexei Navalni in the capital Moscow on the 23rd (local time). © AFP=News1 |
Tensions are rising as protests demanding the release of dissident Alexei Navalni, 44, who are imprisoned in Russia, continue to spread.
According to AFP and Reuters, it is estimated that up to 110,000 people nationwide participated in the protests that took place simultaneously in more than 120 cities in Russia, including the capital Moscow, on the 23rd and 24th (local time).
Foreign media reported that up to 40,000 people gathered in Moscow alone, and about 10,000 protesters were also on the streets in St. Petersburg.
In the meantime, dozens of injured people are known to have occurred on social media, including a video of a woman protesting against the protests being beaten by the police. According to the local human rights monitoring group’OVD Info’, at least 3521 people, including 1398 people in Moscow and 526 people in St. Petersburg, were arrested in the process of suppressing the protests.
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| Russian police are battling protesters demanding the release of dissident Alexei Navalni in Moscow on the 23rd (local time). © Reuters = News 1 |
The protests in Russia were triggered by the fact that Navalni, who was treated at a German hospital after falling due to poisoning symptoms in August last year, was arrested by authorities after returning to Korea on the 17th of this month.
Navalni, a former lawyer, has been involved in accusing the Putin regime of various allegations of corruption and corruption since the late 2000s.In particular, during the Russian general election in December 2011, he became a target of attention by leading anti-government protests related to allegations of illegal elections. to be.
Navalni later tried to confront President Putin as an opposition candidate for the presidential election in 2018, but his run was frustrated when the Central Election Commission deprived him of his right to be elected because of Navalni’s 2014 “embezzlement crime” ruling.
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| On the 23rd (local time), a protest is held in Moscow, the Russian capital, calling for the release of dissident Alexei Navalni. © AFP=News1 |
The reason for the arrest of Navalni by the Russian authorities this time is that they did not comply with their obligations, such as having to regularly appear at an investigative agency during the probation period following the 2014 ruling. However, supporters of Navalni argue that it is only’political retaliation’.
Navalni was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison for illegal acquisition of 31 million rubles (approximately 450 million won) from the Russian branch of the French cosmetics company’Ibrocher’ in December 2014, followed by 5 years of probation (1 year extension). He was sentenced to be arrested and released after every anti-government protest in Russia.
According to foreign media, Russian authorities are not allowed to visit the lawyers after being imprisoned in Navalni because of “technical problems”, but many observers say that they blocked contact with outsiders in the judgment that it could have an effect on the protests.
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| On the afternoon of the 23rd (local time), Russian police officers in riot uniforms are controlling a road near Matrosskaya Tishina concentration camp in Mostba, where dissident Alexei Navalni is being held. © AFP=News1 |
The Matrosskaya Tishina concentration camp in Moscow city, where Navalni is currently incarcerated, is known to be managed by the Federal Security Agency (FSB) as a place where political prisoners have been confined since the days of the Soviet Union. The FSB is also an agency suspected of being involved in Navalni’s poisoning case.
In the midst of this, Russian Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared on the state-run Russia 1 TV on the 24th, insisting that “there were not so many participants in this demonstration,” and “still many people support President Putin.”
Spokesman Peskov said that the US embassy in Moscow issued a “protest warning” to local residents in connection with the protests and disclosed in detail the areas where the protests are scheduled to be “inappropriate. Such actions may interfere with internal affairs.” I also criticized it.
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