A Moscow court is beginning a hearing Tuesday on whether jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose arrest has triggered mass protests, should face years in prison.
Navalny, 44, was detained on Jan. 17 when he returned to Moscow from Berlin, where he had spent months recovering from a near-fatal poisoning attack in August he blames on President Vladimir Putin.
The anti-corruption campaigner is charged with violating a 2014 suspended sentence for embezzlement by skipping out on check-ins with Russia’s prison service while in Germany. The European Court of Human Rights in 2017 ruled that Navalny’s 2014 conviction was “arbitrary and unreasonable.”
Here’s a look at events as they unfold:
2:00 p.m.: After reading out documents for about a half hour, the judge announces a two-hour break for lunch. “Can you send someone to McDonald’s?” Navalny asks.
1:57 p.m.: The court confirms to Interfax that diplomats from the Czech Republic, Austria, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Latvia and Poland are present at the hearing as well as EU representatives.
1:27 p.m.: At least 237 people have been detained outside the Moscow City Court so far, the OVD-Info police monitor reports.
1:00 p.m.: Navalny questions the FSIN official: “Comrade captain, do you respect the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin?” … “You said you don’t know where I’ve been since August. Putin said on television that thanks to him I’d been sent to Germany for treatment.”
“I was in a coma, then I was in the ICU,” he continues. “I sent you medical documents; you had my address and contacts. What else could I have done to tell you where I am? I have a lawyer and my lawyer has a telephone… how could I have informed you better?”
The FSIN representative responds that Navalny “needed to provide documents and explain the serious reasons for not showing up to inspections.”
“I was in a coma!” Navalny says.
12:49 p.m.: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova writes that the presence of foreign diplomats at Navalny’s hearing “isn’t just meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, but the self-incrimination of the west’s unsightly and illegal attempts to contain Russia.” She accuses the diplomats of being “an attempt at psychological pressure on the judge.”
12:45 p.m.: The Kremlin says Putin is not following today’s hearing, adding that it hopes Navalny’s fate would not affect Russia’s ties with Europe.
“We hope that such nonsense as linking the prospects of Russia-EU relations with the resident of a detention center will not happen,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, days ahead of a visit to Moscow by the European Union’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.
12:39 p.m.: Navalny’s lawyer Kobzev asks why the FSIN didn’t contact his family or lawyers when he missed his check-ins with his probation officer and only added him to Russia’s wanted list months after he was evacuated to Germany. Kobzev says he submitted medical files from Berlin the FSIN in person in November, contradicting prosecutors’ claims that they hadn’t heard from Navalny or his representatives. “The whole country, the whole world knew where he was,” he says.
12:34 p.m.: At least 127 people have been detained outside the Moscow City Court so far, the OVD-Info police monitor reports.
12:20 p.m.: A Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) representative formally asks the judge to replace Navalny’s suspended sentence with a real prison term of 3 years and 6 months.
“Since the end of September 2020, Navalny has been in outpatient treatment. Judging by media reports, he moved freely and gave interviews. He did not contact FSIN inspectors, although their phone number was posted on their website. He was put on the wanted list, as the service decided that he was systematically evading a suspended sentence,” the representative says.
When the judge asks the prosecution why the FSIN didn’t take action against Navalny earlier, they respond that there was hope he “would get on the road to reform.”
12:01 p.m.: After the hearing resumes, the prosecution dismisses the Charité document, saying it does not state where Navalny was after he was discharged for outpatient treatment on Sept. 23 and before his outpatient treatment ended on Jan. 15.
11:54 a.m.: Vyacheslav Detishin, the head of the Simonovsky district court that is presiding over Navalny’s trial, submitted his resignation on Jan. 28, the Znak.com news website reports.
11:42 a.m.: Detentions continue outside the court as the judge calls a 10-minute break.
11:36 a.m.: Navalny’s lawyer Vadim Kobzev asks the court to admit a medical document as proof that he was in outpatient treatment at Berlin’s Charité hospital until Jan. 15 and that he was unable to check in with his probation officer before then, Mediazona reports. Kobzev also submits a document from Charité stating that Navalny underwent inpatient treatment for severe poisoning from Aug. 22 to Sept. 23 as well as the European Court of Human Rights’ statement that the verdict against Navalny in the Yves Rocher case was unfair.
He adds that if Navalny hadn’t been detained at the airport upon his Jan. 17 arrival in Moscow, he would have checked in with his probation officer the next morning.
11:32 a.m.: Prosecutors oppose a request from Navalny’s lawyers to allow journalists to film the hearing, saying it will “interfere” with proceedings.
11:27 a.m.: When asked by the judge to state his place of residence, Navalny jokes that he lives at the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center, according to the Mediazona news website.
11:25 a.m.: Two correspondents from the Mash Telegram channel have been detained, Dozhd reports.
11:21 a.m.: The hearing has started, according to the independent Dozhd broadcaster. Journalists are barred from taking photos or recording video.
11:14 a.m.: Yevgeny Safronov, a journalist from the Open Media news website, has reportedly been detained outside the metro station nearest the courthouse.
11:07 a.m.: Navalny has arrived in the courtroom, video footage from state-run media shows. He speaks with his wife Yulia and his lawyers through a microphone in his glass holding cell.
10:48 a.m.: The judge who will consider the Federal Penitentiary Service’s request to jail Navalny has been switched at the last minute, according to the Moscow City Court website.
10:42 a.m.: At least 18 diplomatic vehicles are at the courthouse, the Kremlyovskaya Prachka Telegram channel reports.
10:22 a.m.: The Proekt investigative website reports that at least 20 people have already been detained outsite the closest metro station to the court. Detentions have also started outside the courthouse, the iStories investigative website reports.
10:00 a.m.: An MT correspondent reports massive police presence outside the Moscow City Court where the hearing will take place. Police have locked down the surrounding neighborhood and have set up multiple document checks for those looking to get closer to the courthouse.
9:34 a.m.: Navalny’s wife Yulia has arrived at the Moscow City Court.
AFP contributed reporting.