The political opposition leader to the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny, was denied an appeal by a Russian court for his release from jail Thursday, as protests continue throughout the country demanding him to be freed.
Sitting before the court via a video link from jail, Navalny, 44, denied he was guilty of the criminal proceedings against him, alleging his jail sentence was a fear campaign coordinated by the government to intimidate political opposition to the Kremlin.
“You won’t succeed in scaring tens of millions of people who have been robbed by that government,” Navalny said. “Yes, you have the power now to put me in handcuffs, but it’s not going to last forever.”
He will remain in jail until his parole hearing next week, in which he could be sent to a penal colony for up to three and a half years.
Navalny was arrested on Jan. 17 after returning from a five-month recovery-stay in Germany. He alleges the Kremlin poisoned him last year due to his vocal stances against the government, despite Russian authorities repeatedly denying his claims. German investigators later determined Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok-class nerve agent, a potent toxin produced in Russia since the time of the Soviet Union.
The opposition leader was jailed for 30 days for allegedly violating probation terms of his suspended sentence stemming from a money-laundering conviction in 2014. Navalny has maintained the charge is also politically motivated, and he faces accusations from two additional criminal investigations by Russian authorities.
Since Navalny’s recent jail sentence, more world governments have come out in support of the opposition leader, condemning the apparent human rights violations against him. The United States and leaders of the Group of Seven have called for his freedom and the release of other peaceful protesters arrested in Russia.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered throughout the country demanding Navalny’s freedom last weekend while authorities detained several of the opposition leader’s allies and the government deemed the protests illegal.
Allies of Navalny have called for more demonstrations across the country this coming weekend.
