MOSCOW – Kremlin critic Aleksey Navalny returned to court on Saturday to hear his lawyers’ appeal, which they say was a politically motivated decision to put him in jail for nearly three years.
Navalny, the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed earlier this month for parole violations. The West has condemned the case and is discussing possible sanctions on Russia.
As the proceedings went on, a relaxed-looking Navalny said that he had heard of a European Court of Human Rights ruling asking Russia to free him, a request which Moscow has made increasingly illegal. Rejected from.
Speaking from a glass court room cage wearing a green trouser and a patterned shirt, Navalny told the presiding judge that it would be better if the court would let him go now.
Later on Saturday, he is scheduled to appear in court again, as a separate scandalous trial against him is expected to end.
In a case of condemnation, Navalny is accused of stigmatizing two World War II veterans in support of constitutional reforms last year that allowed Putin to run for two more terms after 2024 in the Kremlin.
Navlany, who returned to Russia last month from Germany, where he was recovering from a near-toxic poisoning with a military-grade nerve toxin in Siberia, described people in the video as traitors and corrupt.
He said that his remarks were not specifically directed against the veteran, and that officials are using the allegation to tarnish his reputation.
State prosecutors have asked the court to impose a fine of $ 12,800 for the disgrace.
Navalny’s arrest and jailing sparked nationwide street protests in Russia, but his colleagues say they have now stopped serious demonstrations until spring.
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