National Review
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny condemns the Kremlin’s ‘illegality’ after being arrested
Russian security forces arrested Alexei Navalny on Sunday immediately after his return to Moscow, where he traveled after recovering from a near-fatal poisoning attack in Germany, and placed him before a judge on Monday morning at a police station. police. Navalny’s lawyers learned of the hearing just minutes before it started at a police station, instead of a regular courthouse, outside Moscow. The judge gave lawyers just 30 minutes to familiarize themselves with the case and another 20 minutes to speak to the client. “I have seen a lot of mockery of justice … But what is happening now is impossible,” Navalny said in a video posted by his press secretary before the hearing. “It is the highest degree of illegality.” The police requested that the Navalny court be formally placed in prison for 30 days, according to the director of the Navalny foundation. Navalny was already scheduled to appear at a hearing on January 29 on charges of violating the terms of parole in a previous suspended sentence while remaining in Germany during treatment, which is why he was officially detained. He received the previous suspended prison sentence and parole order in 2014 for embezzlement and money laundering, a case that the European Court of Human Rights in 2018 called politically motivated. He called the criminal cases against him “made up” and said the intention of the authorities is to prevent him from returning. Russian prosecutors opened a new criminal investigation into Navalny in December, accusing him of accepting donations from his Anti-Corruption Foundation. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday called for “immediate and unconditional release” of the opposition leader and said his detention was “the latest in a series of attempts to silence Navalny and other opposition figures”. Jake Sullivan, the new national security adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, also called for Navalny’s immediate release, tweeting that “the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held responsible.” Navalny almost died during the summer after being poisoned by Novichok, a nervous agent from the Soviet era. He was on a flight to Moscow after meeting with supporters in Siberia when he fell ill. The Russian dissident blames Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning, although the Kremlin denies any involvement. Putin said last month that if Russian intelligence agents had tried to kill Navalny, “we would have finished the job”. Meanwhile, Western intelligence officials and scientists who helped develop the nerve agent say it can only be obtained through military and security circles.