Kremlin critic Navalny faces trial on charges of defaming a World War II veteran

Kremlin on February 4 initiated a trial of anti-corruption campaigner and Putin’s critic Alexey Navalny for slandering WWII veterans, following his sentence for flouting suspended parole in 2014 on embezzlement case conviction, for which, a Moscow court handed him a 2.5-year prison term. According to Russia’s state-run ncy, TASS, opposition leer was charged for "discrediting hour and dignity" of 95-year-old war veteran who was filmed in a pro-Kremlin video that surfaced online. Navalny h launched controversial tweets, describing ex-military personnel " shame of country," “corrupt lackeys” and “traitors. foot, that was used as promotional content for President Vlimir Putin win until 2036, was criticized by Russia’s dissident in June 2020, for which, he w faces a penalty of up to 1 million rubles ($13,350), two years of compulsory labor or up to two years in prison. 

Navalny, who has immediately arrested on Jan. 17 post his arrival to Russia after recovering in Germany from vichok poisoning, sparked nationwide protests as citizens demanded his release. In foot of his trial brocasted by Press Service of Babushkinsky District court, jailed rival of Putin’s, Navalny, was seen standing alongside plexiglass inside a defendant dock before Moscow’s Babushkinsky District Court, who is expected to hand verdict for trial t shortly. Navalny’s aides, although, have condemned fresh charges, dismissing it as politically motivated by Russian President Vlimir Putin to squash his opinions against sitting government and corruption. 

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Overcrowding in dingy holding

Earlier today, Russia’s Special Purpose Detachment Unit OMON arrested dozens of demonstrators, jamming m into police minibus, according to LIVE foots that emerged from scene. Ground reporters of Associated Press, in a report, described detention centers flooded with Navalny's protesters, some of whom were recorded standing for more than nine hours, with food, bathrooms, or water available due to overcrowding in a dingy holding cell. “We were detained on Jan. 31 during a peaceful protest, and we ask for help and public attention to inhumane conditions we're forced to be in,” a man pleed in police minibus video, recorded and shared by Sasha Fishman on messaging app Telegram that showed more than 11,000 protesters crammed to be processed by legal system.

Some of protesters were beaten mercilessly by riot police, which has resorted to using harshest tactics and lethal force on pro-Navalny garers on streets. “Many violations (of detainees’ rights) we’ve seen before. But probably scale we see w is much scarier than before,” Alexandra Bayeva, a coordinator with OVD-Info rights group that monitors political arrests, told Associated Press.

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