Published 18:56 IST, February 20th 2021
Moscow court rejects opposition leader Alexei Navalny's appeal against prison term
A Russian court on February 20 rejected detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal against his prison sentence of two and half years.
A Russian court on February 20 rejected opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal against his prison sentence. The Kremlin critic was on February 2, sentenced to a jail term of two years and eight months for violating terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. Appearing in Moscow city court, Navalny appealed against his sentence and demanded immediate release, however, the judge only made a small reduction in his prison term and reduced it a little over two and half years, as reported by the Associated Press.
During the Saturday trial, the anti-corruption crusader spoke against the Putin Administration, making references from the Bible as well as the fictional book Harry Potter and show Rick and Morty. He urged Russians to resist the pressure from authorities as he called for a “fairer country.” He also the judge and prosecutors arguing that they could have much better lives in “New Russia”, a country without “constant lying”.
"The government’s task is to scare you and then persuade you that you are alone. Our Voldemort in his palace also wants me to feel cut off,” he added, in a reference to Putin. “To live is to risk it all. Otherwise, you’re just an inert chunk of randomly assembled molecules drifting wherever the universe blows you," he added.
'I wasn't hiding'
He also said that he wasn’t hiding in Germany adding that the entire world knew about him. In addendum, he insisted that he was unable to report to the authorities in line with his probation requirements while he was convalescing in Germany after his poisoning. Navalny has accused Russian secret services of trying to poison him using Soviet-era nerve agent and also called Putin an 'underpants poisoner'.
Navalny was arrested by the Russian authorities soon after returning from Germany last month, where he had been since August 2020 for treatment. Navalny was flown to Berlin from Russia last year after he fell ill during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Upon landing in Germany, doctors concluded Navalny had been poisoned using Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Navalny was in a medically-induced coma for almost a month following which he was kept in the hospital for recovery treatment.
(With inputs from AP)
Updated 18:57 IST, February 20th 2021