Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny denounced the charges against him during a court case that is separate from the one that got him a sentence of more than three years in prison.
The 44-year-old critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin denied he did anything wrong when he appeared in court on Friday. Navalny was charged under a libel law, facing accusations he defamed a World War II veteran.
Navalny, who is believed to have been poisoned by Russian intelligence operatives last August and spent months recovering in Germany from a powerful nerve agent, appeared unfamiliar with the case against him. At the beginning of the hearing, he asked the judge for a half-hour to speak with his counsel and get acquainted with the case, but the court said he had since August to look into it.
“I had a lot of other stuff to do in August,” Navalny retorted.
The trial centers on comments the activist made on social media last June when he disparaged a video by state-run RT, which included various sports and cultural figures expressing support for changes to the Russian constitution that paved the way for Putin to rule as president for years to come. One of those in the video was Ignat Artemenko, a 94-year-old veteran of WWII.
Before the constitutional change, Russian law prevented Putin from running for his third presidential term in a row and his fifth overall in 2024. Now Putin is clear to lead until 2036.
During the Friday hearing, the prosecutor in the case asked Navalny if he understood why he was in court.
“I’m looking at what is happening right now, and it is disgusting. It’s not just that you are using this poor man as a puppet. The question is, ‘Who are the fascists? Who are the political whores?’ His relatives are trading on him to get money and are bullying him,” Navalny said.
“Cases are always fabricated against me, but the authorities have problems when cases go to court,” Navalny told the court. “It is clear to everyone there that the truth is on my side.”
The charge is punishable by up to two years in jail, Navalny’s lawyer said he can’t face a jail sentence because the charges stem from before the law was changed in December.
Navalny was arrested immediately upon his return to Russia from Germany. Earlier this week, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for failing to meet his parole conditions for a 2014 suspended sentence for embezzlement. The activist’s team argued that he physically couldn’t meet those conditions because he was in a coma in Germany at the time. He blasted Putin in court and said history would not treat the longtime leader of Russia well.
“Everyone was convinced that he’s just a bureaucrat who was accidentally appointed to his position. He’s never participated in any debates. Murder is the only way he knows how to fight. He’ll go down in history as nothing but a poisoner. We all remember Alexander the Liberator [Alexander II] and Yaroslav the Wise [Yaroslav I]. Well, now we’ll have Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner,” Navalny told the court, referencing reports that the Russian intelligence operatives might have placed the nerve agent inside his underwear while he was in a hotel in Siberia.
Protests erupted across the country in the weeks following Navalny’s initial detention, with demonstrators demanding accountability and for the opposition leader’s freedom. Thousands of Russians decrying the move have been arrested since Navalny returned.
President Biden and leaders in Europe have called for Navalny’s release. The White House said Biden “did not hold back” during a recent phone call with Putin when they discussed Navalny’s treatment.
