The main opponent of the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny, targeted by multiple legal proceedings, goes to court twice on Saturday in Moscow, cases that risk leading him to a forced labor camp for nearly three years.
These two hearings take place as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this week asked for the release of the 44-year-old Russian anti-corruption activist, arguing a risk to the life of this opponent who survived in extremis to poisoning last year.
This decision was immediately rejected by Moscow, which had already brushed aside calls to this effect from the European Union, despite the threat of new sanctions.
Read also: The pressure is mounting on Navalny's allies
Returned to Russia in January from a convalescence after the poisoning of which he accuses the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny was arrested on his arrival at the airport and was sentenced on February 2 to two years and eight months in prison.
The court converted a 2014 suspended prison sentence for fraud to a firm sentence for violating its judicial review.
It is this judgment which was studied on appeal Saturday morning in a court in Moscow.
Present at the hearing, the opponent rejected this accusation by saying that he had never wanted to escape the Russian authorities by going to Germany and to have warned them of his return.
"
I bought a ticket and told everyone that I was coming home (...) It's just absurd
", he told the judge, according to a journalist from the AFP present in court.
The prosecutor retaliated by asserting that the opponent had "
openly and brazenly
" defied the law and that he would like to be granted an "
exclusive
"
authorization right
.
Ouliana Solopova, spokesperson for the Moscow courthouse, told AFP that the prison services will be free to transfer the opponent to one of Russia's many labor camps if the February 2 decision is confirmed.
Read also: Navalny affair: the ambivalent EU after the snub inflicted on Josep Borrell in Russia
Furthermore, on Saturday afternoon, Alexei Navalny appear before another judge in a trial for "
defamation
" of a veteran of the Second World War.
The prosecution requested a fine of 950,000 rubles in this case (around 10,600 euros) and also demanded that the opponent's suspension be converted into a prison.
A legacy of the Soviet Union, most prison sentences in Russia are served in prison camps sometimes located far from everything.
The work of prisoners, usually in sewing or furniture workshops, is compulsory.
The conditions of detention are also regularly denounced by human rights defenders.
Multiple procedures
Alexeï Navalny, whose incarceration in January had led to three days of demonstrations repressed by the police, denounces legal procedures set up from scratch and has spent previous hearings defying the court.
According to him, the Kremlin wants to throw him in prison to silence him, after failing to kill him by poisoning him last summer.
Moscow rejects these accusations.
Other cases are in progress.
Russian justice is seized in particular of a complaint for defamation lodged against Alexeï Navalny by the sulphurous businessman Evguéni Prigojine, considered close to President Vladimir Poutine.
He is also being investigated for fraud, a case under investigation in which the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison.
Read also: Navalny affair: Putin hardens his showdown with the West
The European Union and the United States have stepped up calls to release Alexeï Navalny, while the opponent's collaborators urged the West to sanction senior Russian officials and close to Vladimir Putin.
Moscow sees it as an "
interference
" in its affairs and has threatened the Europeans with reprisals.
Alexei Navalny and his supporters plan to organize further protests against power in the spring and summer, ahead of legislative elections.
See also
- Navalny: from Moscow to Washington, the world reacts to the imprisonment of the Russian opponent
