Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny jailed for 30 days, but protest to go on

A Moscow court jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny for 30 days over an unauthorised protest earlier this year.

Alexei Navalny in a Moscow court in June. Picture: AP

A Moscow court jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny for 30 days yesterday over an unauthorised protest earlier this year, just days before another planned political rally.

Judge Alexei Stekliyev of the Tverskoy District Court in the capital ruled that Mr Navalny had repeatedly violated Russian law with a call for a mass protest in January.

Mr Navalny was detained on Saturday evening outside his home in Moscow. The charges were based on a protest he organised on January 28, violating Russia’s strict laws, which forbid any public event without city hall’s authorisation.

In the courtroom late on Monday, Mr Navalny’s defence lawyer asked the judge to pause the proceedings for two days in order to read through the case, which contains 219 pages but Judge Stekliyev allowed only 30 minutes.

Speaking before the decision, the 42-year-old Kremlin critic said the case was an indictment of Russia’s political system.

“Over the past four years... Moscow has not once approved our request to rally where we requested,” Mr Navalny said.

He added that the only reason he was being held on the same charge for the third time was to keep him from holding a protest on September 9 against the government’s retirement age hike. September 9 is also an election day in several Russian regions, including Moscow, where voters will cast ballots for mayor.

In the capital, a lack of genuine opposition candidates on the ballot paper means incumbent Vladimir Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin is all but guaranteed to win.

Moscow city hall said Mr Nav­alny’s request to hold the rally on election day had been rejected, warning that measures would be taken against organisers and participants. Mr Navalny’s lawyer, Ivan Zhanov, said the rally would be “held no matter what,” despite Mr Navalny’s absence.

Mr Navalny has called some of the biggest protests in Russia in recent years. His anti-corruption rhetoric is especially popular among younger people who follow his online channels and blogs.

The opposition politician has criticised the planned pension age hike — a first in nearly 90 years — that has led to a rare outburst of public anger in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Mr Navalny has also applied to register a political party, “Russia of the Future”, but his bid was rejected, his website said yesterday. This is the third unsuccessful attempt by him to register an opposition party over six years.

In a video posted online, Mr Navalny lashed out at Mr Putin. “This hypocrite constantly complains that we don’t offer any constructive agenda and only keep protesting,” he said. “What else do we have to do? There is no media, we have no parties, and the political system is frozen. The only thing left to do is mass rallies. All other ways to influence the authorities were cut by Putin.”

Mr Navalny, who was barred from taking part in the March presidential election, served a month in prison in June after ­organising demonstrations ahead of Mr Putin’s fourth inauguration in May.

AFP