Published 18:09 IST, January 18th 2021
'Ultimate lawlessness': Navalny slams Russian administration as his trial begins
Embattled Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny excoriated the Vladimir Putin led administration stressing that the impromptu trial was ultimate lawlessness.
Embattled Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, on January 18, excoriated the Vladimir Putin led administration stressing that the impromptu trial to extend his detention was “ultimate lawlessness.” Navalny was, on January 17, detained at the Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport following his return from German capital Berlin wherein he was undergoing medical treatment. However, instead of a courtroom, the law enforcement officials took him to a police station for his trial, a move that has now raised eyebrows.
In a video released by Navalny’s spokeswoman, the opposition leader could be heard asking why the hearing being held "at a police station," describing the procedure as evidence that the authorities had "ripped up and thrown away the Code of Penal Procedure." Following a night in detention in Moscow, Navalny was presented at Khimki police station earlier today for his trial.
“I’ve seen a lot of mockery of justice... but they have ripped up and thrown away” Russia’s criminal code, Navalny said. “This is impossible. It’s ultimate lawlessness.”
Navalny was, on January 17, detained at the Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport following his return from German capital Berlin. Navalny, President’s Vladimir’s top critic, was undergoing medical treatment after getting what German authorities declared as poisoning with a Russian nerve agent of Novichok Group. Earlier in December, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) had warned Navalny of a prison term if he did not report back immediately. However, boarding his flight earlier last week, the 44-year-old said that he didn’t think he would be arrested.
According to reports by The Guardian, Navalny was scheduled to land at Vnukovo airport, where his followers had gathered, but the authorities closed the airport at last moment. They then diverted his flight to Sheremetyevo where authorities met him at Passport control and detained him. The embattled leader calmly kissed his wife goodbye, hugged her before getting away with officials.
'Was he arrested?'
Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to a question about the arrest by saying that he was not “up to date” with his detention. “Was he arrested in Germany? I'm not up to date,” Associated Press reported citing online news site Podyom. Peskov, like Putin, is noted for avoiding saying Navalny's name.
Updated 18:09 IST, January 18th 2021