Russian court jails Alexey Navalny over parole violations

A Russian court has sentenced Alexey Navalny to jail over alleged parole violations in an embezzlement case dating back to 2014, which the Kremlin opponent argues is politically motivated.

A Russian court sentenced Navalny to three and a half years in jail after ruling he had violated the terms of his parole, but said his prison term would be shortened for time he had served earlier under house arrest.

The Simonovsky District Court in Moscow on Tuesday ordered Navalny to prison for three and a half years, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning. It said, however, his prison term would be shortened for time he had served earlier under house arrest, which means Navalny will serve more than two and a half years in jail.

The ruling is almost certain to fuel more demonstrations in support of Navalny across the country and deepen a rift between Russia and Western powers demanding the 44-year-old’s release.

It comes two weeks after Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon returning to Moscow from Berlin, where he spent five months recovering from the poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities reject the accusation.

Speaking from a glass cage in the courtroom during his hearing, Navalny attributed his arrest to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “fear and hatred”, saying the Russian leader will go down in history as a “poisoner”.

“I have deeply offended him simply by surviving the assassination attempt that he ordered,” he said. “The aim of that hearing is to scare a great number of people,” Navalny said. “You can’t jail millions. You can’t jail the entire country.”

Russian police detained 311 people in Moscow ahead of the hearing, the OVD-Info protest monitoring group said.

Riot police were deployed in large numbers outside the court after Navalny’s allies called on supporters to gather outside in support.

Navalny’s detention has sparked nationwide protests against Putin. Thousands of people were detained as tens of thousands defied a heavy police presence to fill the streets in towns and cities across Russia on Sunday for the second week running to demand the Kremlin critic’s release.

World Opinions News – agencies