Published 12:58 IST, February 21st 2021
What's next for Alexei Navalny as bail plea rejected, fined for 'defaming' Russian veteran
Russian Prez Vladimir Putin critic, Alexei Navalny will remain imprisoned after court partially dismissed his appeal over a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s staunch critic, Alexei Navalny will remain imprisoned after the court partially dismissed his appeal over a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence handed down earlier this month. Furthermore, in a separate case that was also heard on Saturday, the Russian opposition leader was declared guilty of defaming a World War II veteran and was fined 850,000 rubles or $11,480. The case related to comments Navalny made last June on social media.
As per Russian state media reports, in the morning ruling held at Babushkinsky District Court but handed down by Moscow City Court, the judge only decreased his sentence by a month and a half on considering the time he spent under house arrest from December 2014 to February 2015. The Saturday ruling came after Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova petitioned the court to release her client immediately aligning with the demand of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The original sentence to the 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 had received a suspended sentence of three and a half years. He was initially detained by the Russian state in January as soon as he arrived from the European nation where he spent at least five months recovering from Novichok poisoning that Navalny has blamed on Putin’s government.
What’s next for Alexei Navalny?
Despite the ongoing legal battles for Alexei Navalny, the series of court hearings have offered him an unexpected public forum. In his libel case, Navalny has also called the 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 already reportedly termed the cases against him as “performances” trumped up by the Russian authorities to instil fear among the citizens or to smear him.
He said the authorities were using trials against him “showing me they can do as they want, like jugglers.” As per the Washington Post report, Kremlin critic also said, “Ordinary people who look at this think, ‘What if I run into the judicial system? Do I stand a chance?’ ”
Meanwhile, he is also finding new ways to communicate including a post on Instagram, made on his behalf. In the social media post, he said being in jail was not tough but felt rather like a space voyage “to a beautiful new world” but also called space travel “dangerous”. However, now that the 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. “There’s just one big difference from space movies. I have no weapons at all. What if the ship is attacked by xenomorphs? I doubt I could fight them off with a kettle.”
Updated 12:58 IST, February 21st 2021