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Alexei Navalny was arrested exactly one year ago when he returned to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from his poisoning. The Russian opponent published a text on Instagram from his jail this Monday in which he explains that he does not know when he will be able to leave prison. He also said that he did not regret what he did and that he will continue to fight for justice.
A year ago, Alexei Navalny was arrested at the airport in the Moscow capital, returning from Germany where he was hospitalized for poisoning. He recalled on his Instagram account this Monday, “I could not take a single step through my country as a free man; I was detained even before the border control.”
Navalny also posted on his social media: “The year passed terribly quickly. It seems like only yesterday that I got on a plane to Moscow, and I’m already a year old. It is true what the scientific books say: time on earth and in space flows at different speeds.”
“I don’t know when my space journey will end or if it will end at all”
Alexei Navalny wrote on Instagram “I don’t know when my space journey will end or if it will end at all”, adding that one of his petitions against the prison administration was postponed while the other was rejected.
Navalny also explained: “there is another one that is coming: that of being an extremist and a terrorist.” In June 2021, a Russian court ruled that the FBK anti-corruption foundation that Navalny created in 2011 was extremist and banned it. The opponent could spend up to 10 more years in jail for collaborating with an extremist organization.
Year of repression in Russia
Throughout this year, the European Union continued to denounce Russia’s actions, asking Vladimir Putin to release the prisoner and imposing sanctions on Russia. The head of foreign policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell insisted on Monday: “We reiterate our call to the Russian authorities for his immediate and unconditional release without further delay.”
Borrell also denounced the disinformation campaign that exists against Navalny and the persecution of the group that supports him. This Friday, Ivan Jdanov and Leonid Volkov were added to the list of “terrorists and extremists” of the Russian financial intelligence service. Both are refugees abroad, they were at the head of the FBK and its regional network until it was banned.
Amnesty International explained on Monday that the time that passed since Navalny’s arrest was marked by “an unprecedented campaign of repression” in Russia. He also stated that “on the anniversary of his arrest, Navalny and the political activists associated with him are in hell.”
“I don’t regret it for a second and I will continue to do so”
Despite the nightmare in which he finds himself, Alexei Navalny affirmed that he will continue to fight for justice and that he did not regret what he did: “I do not regret it for a second and I will continue to do it,” he wrote.
Navalny did not give up his fight and said he still thinks that there is a majority of honest people in Russia. He called on the Russian people to overcome their fear, asking: “Why live your whole life in fear and why be robbed when everything can be arranged in another, fairer way?”
On October 20, the European Parliament awarded him the Sakharov Prize for the defense of human rights and freedom of thought. The late president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, declared: “He has fought tirelessly against the corruption of the Vladimir Putin regime. It has cost him his freedom and almost his life.”
First conviction in 2014
Officially, the Russian authorities imprisoned Navalny on January 17, 2021 for violation of his probation in a fraud case from 2014 and for a period of 2 and a half years. They accused the Russian opponent of not having appeared for judicial review in December 2020.
Navalny was convicted in 2014 along with his younger brother, who co-owned a service company with him, of overcharging a Russian subsidiary for their services. Since then, the European Court of Human Rights has found Navalny and his brother innocent, saying they did not receive a fair trial.
Navalny continues to claim that his conviction is for political purposes. The NGO Amnesty International attributed him the status of a prisoner of conscience and states: “Alexéi Navalny was imprisoned not for any crime duly recognized by international law, but for demanding the right to equal participation in public life for himself and his followers, and for asking for a non-corrupt government.”
Poisoning in August 2020
In July 2020, Navalny openly opposed the referendum that was to change the Russian constitution, among other things, allowing Vladimir Putin to run for two more terms. On August 20 of the same year, Alexei Navalny collapsed on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. He was transferred to Germany where he received treatment and after which international experts concluded a poisoning with the nerve agent for military use Novichok.
Russian authorities never did any full investigation into the case, claiming they did not have enough evidence. According to Amnesty International, there is strong evidence that agents of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) were involved in the poisoning.
With AFP and Reuters
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