Alexey Navalny will remain in detention before the hearing next month, the Russian court orders

Alexey Navalny will remain in detention before the hearing next month, the Russian court orders

by

Navalny appeared by video link in the Khimki city court, just outside Moscow. He remains in detention at the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center in the northeast of the capital.

The opposition activist was ordered to spend 30 days in custody during a surprise hearing on January 18.
He had been detained the day before his arrival from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from the Novichok poisoning he attributed to the Russian government. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Navalny was placed on the country’s federal wanted list last month for violating parole terms related to a years-old fraud case, which he dismisses as politically motivated.

Russia’s federal prison service has asked a court to replace his suspended sentence with a prison sentence. If the request is granted, Navalny will likely be jailed for 3.5 years.

Russian police searched Wednesday at Navalny’s Moscow apartment and at his team’s headquarters, according to his advisers.

The raids came when Navalny’s allies called for a second round of unsanctioned demonstrations across the country, planned for Sunday, to demand the release of the activist from prison.

CNN’s Mary Ilyushina reported from Moscow and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. Anna Chernova contributed to this report.

.Source