Russia’s top opposition leader Alexei Navalny has dominated the headlines this week following his defiant return to Russia from Germany.
The anti-corruption campaigner arrived in Moscow on Sunday from Germany, where he had spent the last six months recovering from a Novichok poisoning.
Upon his arrival, Navalny was swiftly detained and taken to a police station outside the city.
At the police station, he was sentenced by a judge to 30 days in jail due to not checking in with authorities in-person while in Germany, a stipulation as part of a suspended sentence in a 2014 embezzlement case.
He now awaits trial in jail and has an additional court hearing on Feb. 5 for a libel case in which he called a Russian WWII veteran a “shame to our country” for appearing in a pro-Kremlin video.
This Saturday, Navalny and his allies have called on supporters to stage nationwide protests in what observers say will test his support among the public.
