Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny travels on a plane bus to a Moscow Sheremetyevo airport terminal on January 17, 2021.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
Russian authorities detained opposition politician Alexei Navalny in custody for 30 days, according to his spokesman, after a hasty hearing inside a police station.
Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter on Monday that a judge ruled that Navalny would be kept in police custody until February 15. She added that it was not yet known where he would be kept during this period.
“They were detained at the border, taken in an unknown direction, the lawyer was not authorized, the trial was held urgently in the police department and they were detained for 30 days,” said Yarmysh on hearing the verdict, according to a translation.
“It can’t even be called a parody of legality,” she added.
The news came after Russian authorities arrested Navalny on Sunday night when his flight from Berlin, Germany, landed at a Moscow airport. It was the first time that Navalny returned to the country since he was poisoned last summer.
His detention was ordered by the Moscow prison service in connection with alleged violations of a suspended sentence.
“Don’t be afraid, go out into the streets. Don’t go out for me, go out for you and your future,” said Navalny in a video posted on YouTube after the judge’s decision, according to a Reuters translation.
The United Nations, government officials and advocacy groups have all asked Russia to release Navalny immediately, while some countries pushed for possible sanctions.
In response, Moscow said Navalny’s case had received “artificial” resonance in the West.
‘There is no more illegal than that’
Navalny is widely regarded as the most prominent and determined critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 44-year-old activist has often been detained by authorities and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups.
Navalny was recovering in Germany after barely surviving what was independently confirmed as Novichok nerve poisoning in August. 20
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia are seen at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport passport control point on January 17, 2021.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV | AFP | Getty Images
Navalny said he believed Putin had ordered the poisoning to continue, allegedly commenting in October last year that he saw no other explanation.
The Putin government denies poisoning Navalny, although investigative reporters have published evidence to support Navalny’s claims.
In a video posted by Yarmysh on Monday morning, Navalny was shown complaining about the absurdity of an impromptu audience at the Khimki police station near Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. “There is nothing more illegal than that,” he said, according to an NBC translation.
A joint statement by the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – three former Soviet republics – issued an appeal on Monday for the EU to consider “imposing restrictive measures in response to this blatant act” if Navalny is not released from detention .
They described Navalny’s arrest as “completely unacceptable”.
Meanwhile, the director of Amnesty International’s Moscow office, Natalia Zviagina, said: “Aleksei Navalny’s arrest is further proof that Russian authorities are trying to silence him.”
She added: “His detention only highlights the need to investigate his allegations that he was poisoned by state agents acting under orders from the highest echelons.”