Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to remain in detention, Russian court rules

A Russian court on January 28 rejected an appeal to overturn the 30-day detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny ahead of a hearing next month over whether he should face jail time for a years-old fraud case. Navalny had returned to Moscow this month following a near-fatal poisoning. He continues to be held at Matrosskaya Tishina detention centre, in the northeast of the capital and he appeared by video link at the country in the city of Khimki. 

According to CNN, the Kremlin critic’s next court date is scheduled for February 2, when a court will decide whether his three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence on fraud charges should be converted into a jail term due to what Russian authorities say is the violation of the terms of his suspended sentence. On Thursday, the judge ruled that Navalny’s detention was lawful and that the opposition leader would remain in detention. Following the judge’s ruling, Navalny’s reaction suggested that he was expecting it as he told the court, “Everything was clear to me even before the hearing”. 

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Navalny said that everything is “so amazing here” that he doesn’t even know where to start. The opposition leader had earlier complained about violations of legal procedures and a lack of opportunity to communicate with his lawyers since his detention on January 17. He said everything is, as usual, the officials take a court decision, look for violations of the law and speak them when appealing. He added, “here everything is one big violation of the law”. 

Further, Navalny went on to urge his protesters to keep coming out. While calling the demonstrator “last barrier” and “real patriots, he said that they are the who prevents those in power from stealing everything. Navalny added, “You will not be able to intimidate us - we are the majority”. 

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Navalny’s allies detained 

Navalny was arrested on January 17 on returning to Moscow from Germany, where he had spent nearly five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he has blamed on the Kremlin but Russian authorities deny. The Russian law enforcement on Wednesday conducted searches at Navalny’s apartment, his team headquarters and his allies. His aides, including Lyubov Sobol, Dr Anastasia Vasilyeva from the Alliance of Doctors union and Maria Alyokhina have been detained for 48 hours along with Russian opposition leader’s brother Oleg. 

The law enforcement in the nation has already detained over 3,000 protesters demanding the immediate release of Navalny. Earlier this week, Navalny's wife Yulia was also detained in Moscow. His team, on the other hand, has called for new protests later this month to demand the release of the Kremlin critic. Leonid Volkov, one of the closest allies of the jailed leader, called on people to gather in all Russian cities on January 31 to demand "freedom for Navalny". Volkov urged people to come out in support of Navalny on January 31 at 12 pm, adding further details will be announced soon. 

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