Russia rejects Western criticism over Navalny's prison term
MOSCOW— Russian authorities on Wednesday shrugged off the massive rallies against the jailing of top Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny and rejected Western criticism as“hysterics” as activists reported more than 1,400 new arrests in the crack down on protesters.
A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Navalny to prison for two years and eight months, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from a nerve-agent poisoning. The ruling immediately ignited new protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg that followed mass iv er allies over the past two weekends.
Speaking in court, Navalny denounced the accusations against him as fabricated and driven by President Vladimir Putin's “fear and hatred,” saying that the Russian leader will go down in history as a “poisoner.”
Asked to comment on Navalny' s speech, which was shared widely on Russian social media platforms, Kremlin spokesman D mi try Peskov responded that it' s not up to him to determine Putin's place in history. Like Put in, Peskov avoids mentioning Navalny by name.
Navalny,a 44- yearold anti-corruption campaigner who is Putin's most determined political foe, was arrested Jan. 17 upon returning from his five-month convalescence in Germany from the poisoning which he has blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities deny any involvement and claim they have no proof that he was poisoned despite tests by several European labs.
As the court ruling was read, Navalny smiled to his wife, Yulia, who attended the hearing, and traced the outline of a heart on the glass cage where he was being held. “Everything will be fine,” he told her as guards led him away.
She thanked supporters on her Instagram, saying “there are so many good, strong and fair people who support Alexei and myself that there is no way to step back and there is nothing to fear.”
“We will win anyway,” she said.
In addition to imprisoning Navalny, authorities put his brother and several close associates under house arrest. Police also have detained scores of journalists who covered the protests.
On Wednesday, a court sentenced Sergei Smirnov, the editor-inchief of Mediazona, a top online news outlet focusing on political repression and human rights abuses, to 25 days in jail on charges of making calls for unsanctioned protests for re tweeting a post mentioning protests. Smirnov denied the charges, and several leading independent media outlets protested his jailing and demanded his immediate release.