‘You will never keep me chained down’: Navalny tells Putin

Alexei Navalny denounces Kremlin pressure on a biased judiciary during a hearing in which he was ordered to remain behind bars.

Alexei Navalny beamed to court on Thursday from Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina detention centre. Picture: Reuters

Jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny has denounced Kremlin pressure and a biased judiciary during a hearing in which he was ordered to remain behind bars ahead of protests this weekend.

Several of his allies were detained following police raids on their apartments and offices hours before the verdict on Thursday night and in the run-up to Sunday’s rally outside the FSB security service’s headquarters in the Russian capital.

“This is blatant lawlessness to intimidate me and other people,” Mr Navalny told the court via video link from Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina, a high-security detention centre. He warned the Kremlin that it may now have the power to put him chains, “but this is not going to last for ever”.

Later in the day President Vladimir Putin’s top domestic critic issued a new call for nationwide protests. “Don’t be afraid of anything,” he wrote from jail. “The majority is on our side. Let’s wake them up.”

Police detained the 44-year-old anti-graft campaigner at a Moscow airport after he returned to Russia on January 17 from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning with nerve agent Novichok.

A makeshift court at a police station last week ordered Mr Navalny placed in custody until February 15. His lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, said she intended to appeal the decision, but “hopes are not high” for success.

Police on Wednesday carried out searches at Mr Navalny’s flat in Moscow and the homes of his allies over alleged violations of coronavirus restrictions during last week’s protests.

Ivan Zhdanov, head of Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), said prominent aide Lyubov Sobol and Mr Navalny’s brother, Oleg, were detained for 48 hours as suspects in a probe launched by the Interior Ministry.

Searches were also carried out at the flat of Mr Navalny’s wife, Yulia, and in the office of FBK, known for its investigations into the wealth of Russia’s elites. Police arrived at the home of Mr Navalny’s doctor, Anastasia Vasilyeva, who was detained for 48 hours too. In a video posted on Twitter, the doctor was playing Beethoven on a piano as people in uniform arrived at the door.

Tens of thousands of people across Russia rallied last weekend in support of Mr Navalny, who is facing charges of violating the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence and could be jailed for 2½ years.

Officials have threatened to fine social media, including Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, for failing to delete posts urging young people to join the rallies.

Protests in Russia are banned if they are not approved by the authorities, as are calls for people under 18 to join in. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the state did not want social networks to become “platforms to announce illegal protests”.

The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it had launched a probe against Leonid Volkov, head of Mr Navalny’s regional network, for persuading young people to protest.

The opposition plans to hold more rallies on Sunday, which in Moscow will take place outside the headquarters of the FSB, the security agency Mr Navalny says targeted him in the poisoning attack on Mr Putin’s orders.

More than 4000 people were detained last weekend at the unsanctioned rallies, which have sparked a series of criminal investigations. Amnesty International on Thursday said Russian authorities “appear shamelessly bent on violating human rights by silencing their critics” and called their actions a “cowardly attempt” to prevent further protests in support of Mr Navalny.

The Moscow prosecutor’s office sent out warnings ahead of Sunday’s rally to six individuals and five internet platforms, without naming them. Moscow police also warned Russians against staging protests this weekend, saying demonstrators could face criminal responsibility.

The opposition appears unwilling to back down, however. Mr Volkov said on Telegram Sunday’s rallies will take place “despite searches and late-night interrogations, despite the 4000 arrests last week, despite the lies and intimidation of Kremlin propaganda”.

Alexander Baunov, of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, said Mr Navalny had shown he was “ready to pay the price to become a real counterweight to Putin”.

“What Navalny wants to do now is to prepare for a situation when he, as the main opposition leader, can become a real contender for power,” he said.

AFP