An appeal hearing in Moscow rejected requests to release Alexei Navalny from prison, while investigators accused Navalny’s top advisers in a series of investigations aimed at stopping the protest movement that came in support of the Kremlin critic.
Navalny will remain in prison until a probation hearing next week, where he could be sent to a penal colony for up to three and a half years. He was arrested when he returned to Russia this month after a suspected FSB poisoning attempt that left him fighting for his life.
The Kremlin looks set to give the opposition leader a long prison sentence, despite protests in support and a wave of international condemnation against his arrest. Joe Biden raised the case during his first phone call as President of the USA with Vladimir Putin, and other leaders also spoke about the case.
Russian investigators also continued to attack Navalny’s aides before further protests scheduled for Sunday. On Thursday, Navalny adviser Leonid Volkov was accused of putting minor Russians in danger after recording a video asking young Russians to attend last week’s protests.
Volkov, who is in Latvia, said the allegations were false and intended to divert attention from protests against Putin. “Have you gone absolutely crazy, you idiots?” it tweeted in the Russian Investigative Committee after announcing the charges.
Young people represent an increasing share of Navalny’s support due to the opposition leader’s use of social media to share the findings of his investigations into Putin’s allies. A recent video about a £ 1 billion palace on the Black Sea allegedly built for Putin has over 98.5 million views on YouTube.
Navalny’s brother Oleg, his lawyer Lyubov Sobol and several other top advisers were arrested in raids last night and are being detained on charges that last week’s protests violated coronavirus restrictions at public events. The charges carry a maximum penalty of three years. Oleg previously served a three and a half year prison sentence that Navalny described at the time as a “hostage” situation.
Navalny attended the video link appeal hearing at Matrosskaya Tishina prison in Moscow due to a mandatory coronavirus quarantine 14 days after his arrival.
He seemed surprised to find that his brother and others had been arrested for last week’s protests. “But why did they arrest Oleg?” he said. He called his arrest “demonstrative illegality”.
“Now you have the power,” he told a judge during the hearing. “You can put a guard on one side of me, on the other and keep me handcuffed. But this situation will not last forever. “