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Photo of the connected Navalny: Visible on the screen in the hall
Photo: Babuskinsky District Court / AP
A man with a shaved head and a blue top can be seen on the screen in the room of the Babushkinsky Court on the outskirts of Moscow.
At first glance, it is hard to see that the Kremlin's best-known critic is sitting there.
"Is that him?" Asks a journalist on the spectator benches with a view of the emaciated man who joined in on Thursday from the penal colony in Vladimir, about 180 kilometers east of Moscow.
Alexej Navalny looks small, the camera has been set so that a lot of white and gray room can be seen, but little Navalny.
The picture is gritty and out of focus, but it is still clear that he has become very narrow, his face has sunken.
It is Navalny's first public appearance since he was brought to the penal colony in February.
He only ended a three and a half week hunger strike on Friday (read the background here).
And the pictures make it clear how much the time there has on him.
More than two months ago, Navalny was pacing up and down the glass cage in the Moscow courtroom, bursting with energy.
At the time, an appeals court upheld Navalny's two years and nearly seven months' imprisonment and that same day sentenced him to a heavy fine for allegedly insulting a war veteran.
A decision that was primarily intended to damage Navalny's reputation: Any criticism of veterans is considered an unpatriotic crossing of borders in Russia.
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Alexei Navalny in court on February 20
Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
Navalny appealed against this ruling, and negotiations will take place this Thursday.
But actually, this day is about something else.
Navalny uses the process to tell his wife and the numerous journalists how he is doing after all these weeks of imprisonment and starvation.
"I am very happy to see you"
"Juljaschka, when you're in the hall, can you get up so I can see you?" Navalny asked his wife beforehand.
She watches the proceedings from a seat in the first row of the spectator benches.
She goes to Nawalny's lawyers, takes off the mask so that the camera can capture her.
Navalny smiles: "I'm very happy to see you." The officers from the Fsin prison authorities present, in the dark gray patch and black vest, let them both have their way.
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Yulia Navalnaya in the courtroom
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
He weighs just 72 kilograms, the 1.89-meter-tall man calls out to his wife Julija during a pause in the process.
That is 22 kilograms less than in January, his lawyers say later.
Navalny spent minutes talking about the end of his hunger strike.
On the Wednesday before the trial he was able to go to the banya, washed himself and looked there in a mirror: "I'm just a terrible skeleton." His wife tries to smile, turns her head in the direction of the screen at her husband.
Navalny continues: He's now eating porridge, it was four spoons on Wednesday and five on Thursday.
He's slowly getting used to the food again.
He was supposed to be given 60 grams of carrots a day, but his request was still being examined.
The request for an apple has not yet been decided either.
"They'll probably ask Putin," he jokes.
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Navalny on the screens in the courtroom
Photo: Babuskinsky District Court / REUTERS
Both laugh when Julija Navalnaya asks if they wouldn't give him steamed vegetables.
"If I win the battle for 60 grams of carrots, I'll fight for steamed vegetables," replies Navalny.
So far he has been getting broth and porridge.
Unprecedented wave of repression against Navalny and his team continues
In the meantime, two new messages will be announced:
As expected, Navalny's chief of staff Leonid Volkov dismantled the network of his 37 staffs in order to protect the opposition's employees. Some offices now want to continue working independently, collecting money for their work independently. The public prosecutor's office had accused Navalny's offices, which functioned like regional headquarters of a party, with "extremism." This charge also concerns the anti-corruption foundation of the Kremlin critic.
Another criminal case was initiated against Navalny, Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov, the head of the foundation.
This time, under Article 239, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, they are accused of founding an association that allegedly engages in violence against citizens or causes other damage.
So far, this paragraph has rarely been used, for example in the case of a sect leader.
The three opposition activists face up to four years imprisonment; if convicted, they cannot vote for five years.
Volkov and Zhdanov are both abroad.
There is little doubt that this judgment will come.
The Russian authorities are bringing charges against Navalny, his team and organizations.
It is an unprecedented wave of repression ahead of the Duma elections in the fall.
"The naked emperor wants to rule to the end, he has clung to power."
Alexei Navalny
Navalny, although still weakened, did not stop Thursday from attacking Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin again.
As usual, biting and combative, he explains in a loud voice: "I would like to say, my dear dish, your emperor is naked."
20 years of completely incompetent leadership would have led to this result: »There is a crown that slips over your ears.
There are tons of lies on TV.
And of course there is enormous personal wealth, ”says Navalny, referring to the president.
"The naked emperor wants to rule to the end, he has clung to power." The Russians would be deprived of their prospects of adding a stolen decade to an already "lost decade".
more on the subject
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Organizations of the Kremlin critic: Work ban for Navalny's team by Christian Esch and Christina Hebel, Berlin and Moscow
Solidarity with Navalny: The Struggle for Survival of Putin's Opponents By Christian Esch and Christina Hebel, Moscow
Tens of thousands protest in Russia: "We owe it to Navalny" By Christina Hebel, Moscow
In Vladimir, where he is in the penal colony, there is not a single normal flat street, the monthly salaries are just around 30,000 thousand rubles, around 330 euros.
"And that in the 21st century, in an oil and gas country that claims to be the world leader," says Navalny.
The judge kept trying to interrupt him, but he kept talking, calling the government and state officials "traitors" and an "occupying power".
At some point the judge picks up her papers and gets up.
A short time later, it announced - unsurprisingly - that the February fine was legal to uphold the verdict against Navalny.
Julija Navalnaya is no longer in the hall; she has already said goodbye to her husband beforehand.
Collaboration: Alexander Chernyshev