Moscow – A Russian court upheld opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s 30-day prison order on Thursday. The court has denied an appeal for Navalny’s immediate release, ensuring that President Vladimir Putin’s high-profile critic will remain behind bars while his allies – those who have not been taken into custody – plan a new series of mass protests across the country. country for this weekend.
Thursday’s hearing followed a wave of police raids at dozens of locations in Moscow that saw many of Navalny’s allies, and his brother, detained.
Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
Navalny, 44, was arrested earlier this month at a Moscow airport immediately after his return from Germany, where he spent the previous five months recovering from poisoning with the deadly nerve agent of the Soviet era Novichok. It believe the attack took place in Russia, on Putin’s orders, a claim the Kremlin denied.
The opposition politician was placed in pre-trial detention on charges of violating the terms of an earlier suspended sentence stemming from a previous conviction that Navalny rejected as politically motivated.
Speaking to the Moscow region court via a video link to the prison on Thursday, Navalny condemned the criminal case against him as an attempt by authorities to intimidate him.
“A large number of people, tens of millions of people agree with me,” he told the court. “We will never allow these people to take control and steal our country.”
Mstyslav Chernov / AP
He also expressed support for other activists who faced persecution since he participated in massive, street protests across the country during his detention last week. The court quickly dismissed his appeal against the arrest.
Protests in more than 100 Russian cities last Saturday were not sanctioned by Russian authorities, and the police responded by arresting about 3,500 people.
Navalny’s arrest after the poisoning trial, which left him hospitalized in serious condition for weeks, attracted the condemnation of senior US and European officials. Secretary of State Antônio Blinken said this week that the United States was “deeply concerned” about Navalny’s security.
“The bottom line is that his voice is the voice of many, many Russians, and it must be heard, not gagged,” Blinken said at his first official press conference on Wednesday, adding that the new Biden government had not ruled out any actions in answer.
Navalny’s brother, Oleg, as well as his prominent allies Lyubov Sobol and Anastasia Vasilyeva, and Maria Alyokhina, one of the members of the collective activist Pussy Riot, were among those arrested Wednesday night in connection with criminal investigations linked to the protests of the last weekend.