Kremlin opponent Navalny says that the trials against him are arbitrary staging and would cross any border. He has some hope in Chancellor Scholz.
At the start of the new trial against him, the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny accused the Russian judiciary of arbitrary staging of criminal proceedings.
“My trials are quite strange in terms of procedure and verdicts, but they’ve crossed every line here,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s opponent said Tuesday in the improvised courtroom at the penal camp. There he also met his wife Julia Navalnaja again, the couple hugged and was able to use the breaks for themselves.
This time Navalny has to answer for alleged misappropriation of funds for his now banned anti-corruption foundation and for insulting a judge. According to his team, Navalny faces 15 years in prison.
The court refused to move the trial to the Russian capital Moscow, which is around 100 kilometers away. The 45-year-old said the client of the procedure was afraid that everyone would then be able to see that the accusation was fabricated. However, several journalists found themselves in the penal camp in Pokrov in the Vladimir region, as reported by the Mediazona portal.
Germany’s position “more important than ever”
Navalny’s team hoped that Chancellor Olaf Scholz would also renew the German government’s criticism of the actions against the opposition when he met Putin in the Kremlin on Tuesday. “Germany is a country that stands for peace and justice. And now his position is more important than ever,” said Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch on Twitter in German. Under Scholz’s predecessor, Angela Merkel, the federal government had repeatedly called for Navalny’s release.
Jarmysch said that Putin was taking revenge with the procedure “after he failed to kill him”. Navalny barely survived an assassination attempt with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in August 2020. The President denied involvement. The EU had imposed sanctions on Russia for the attack.
Navalny returned to Russia a year ago after recovering in Germany, where Merkel had visited him at the Charité in Berlin. He was arrested on January 17, 2021 at Moscow Airport for allegedly violating conditions in another criminal case during his recovery. dpa
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