“Russian authorities are afraid”
New trial against Navalny opened
02/15/2022, 2:49 p.m
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is currently serving a sentence in a Russian prison camp. The authorities are building a makeshift courtroom there to hold another fraud trial against the Kremlin critic. His spokeswoman also appealed to Chancellor Scholz.
A new criminal case has been opened against the prominent Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. The first hearing in the fraud case took place in a makeshift courtroom in the Pokrov penal colony, where Navalny has been imprisoned for around a year. If convicted, Navalny faces an additional ten years in prison. Human rights organizations sharply criticized the actions against the Kremlin critic.
Navalny appeared in the courtroom set up in the penal colony in a prisoner’s uniform and with his hair cropped short. He was accompanied by his lawyers and several security guards. As can be seen on a video from the hall, Navalny’s wife Julia Navalnaja also attended the hearing.
The Russian authorities are “afraid of what I’m going to say,” Navalny said. Therefore, the process will be held behind closed doors in the penal colony. “I haven’t been found guilty in this case yet, but they make me appear in the (prisoner’s) uniform so that the grandmother who sees me on TV thinks, ‘Well, he’s in prison anyway.'”
Alleged embezzlement
Navalny is already serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for fraud in the penal colony around 100 kilometers east of Moscow. The new procedure is about the alleged misappropriation of donations amounting to the equivalent of four million euros by Navalny. The possible maximum sentence for the offense in Russia is ten years imprisonment.
The human rights organization Amnesty International condemned the trial as a farce. It is a “sham trial in which prison guards take part instead of the media”. It is “obvious that the Russian authorities want to ensure that Navalny will not leave prison any time soon”.
Navalny’s confidante Maria Pervchich accused the Russian authorities of deliberately scheduling the start of the trial during the week of “the greatest tension in the Ukraine crisis.” The authorities’ goal is to drastically extend Navalny’s sentence “while everyone is distracted by something bigger,” she wrote on Twitter.
Appeal to Chancellor Scholz
The spokeswoman for the Kremlin critic, Kira Jarmysch, called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to support Navalny during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Moscow. “Germany stands for peace and justice,” she tweeted. “This attitude is more important now than ever.”
Scholz’ predecessor Angela Merkel had called on Putin to release Navalny during her last visit to Moscow as chancellor last summer. Scholz was received by Putin in Moscow at noon. The Chancellor wants to achieve a de-escalation in the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
In August 2020, Navalny was attacked in Russia with a Soviet-made nerve agent, which he barely survived. After several months of medical treatment in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia in January last year, where he was immediately arrested. Navalny blames Russian President Putin for his poisoning. The Kremlin denies the allegations.
Since his imprisonment, the Russian authorities have taken massive action against Navalny’s supporters. Its regional organization as well as its anti-corruption foundation were banned. Navalny himself and some of his comrades-in-arms were put on an official list of “terrorists and extremists” in January.