What's next for Alexei Navalny as bail plea rejected, fined for 'defaming' Russian veteran

Russian President Vlimir Putin’s staunch critic, Alexei Navalny will remain imprisoned after court partially dismissed his appeal over a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence handed down earlier this month. Furrmore, in a separate case that was also heard on Saturday, Russian opposition leer was declared guilty of defaming a World War II veteran and was fined 850,000 rubles or $11,480.  case related to comments Navalny me last June on social media.

As per Russian state media reports, in morning ruling held at Babushkinsky District Court but handed down by Moscow City Court, judge only decreased his sentence by a month and a half on considering time he spent under house arrest from December 2014 to February 2015. Saturday ruling came after Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova petitioned court to release her client immediately aligning with demand of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

original sentence to Kremlin critic was handed down on February 2 after ruling that while Navalny was in Germany, recovering from poisoning, he violated probation terms of a 2014 case in which he h received a suspended sentence of three and a half years. He was initially detained by Russian state in January as soon as he arrived from European nation where he spent at least five months recovering from Novichok poisoning that Navalny has blamed on Putin’s government. 

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What’s next for Alexei Navalny?

Despite ongoing legal battles for Alexei Navalny, series of court hearings have offered him an unexpected public forum. In his libel case, Navalny has also called judge  "Obersturmbannführer”, who is a Nazi paramilitary rank and described Putin as an old man quivering in his bunker, terrified of his own people. Navalny has alrey reportedly termed cases against him as “performances” trumped up by Russian authorities to instil fear among citizens or to smear him. 

He said authorities were using trials against him “showing me y can do as y want, like jugglers.” As per Washington Post report, Kremlin critic also said, “Ordinary people who look at this think, ‘What if I run into judicial system? Do I stand a chance?’ ”

Meanwhile, he is also finding new ways to communicate including a post on Instagram, me on his behalf.  In social media post, he said being in jail was not tough but felt rar like a space voyage “to a beautiful new world” but also called space travel “dangerous”. However, now that judge has rejected his bail plea, he will remain in jail.

“Could I, a fan of books and movies about space, refuse such a flight, even if it lasts three years? Obviously no,” he wrote. “re’s just one big difference from space movies. I have no weapons at all. What if ship is attacked by xenomorphs? I doubt I could fight m off with a kettle.”

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