MOSCOW (AP) – A court in Moscow on Saturday rejected the appeal of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny against his prison sentence, even as the country faces a European court order to release the Kremlin’s most prominent enemy.
Speaking before the verdict, Navalny urged the Russians to rise to the Kremlin in a heated speech, mixing Bible references with “Harry Potter.”
A lower court sentenced Navalny earlier this month to two years and eight months in prison for violating probation while recovering in Germany from a nervous breakdown he blames on the Kremlin. The Russian authorities rejected the accusation.
Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption crusader and the most critical critic of President Vladimir Putin, appealed to prison and demanded his release. The judge of the Moscow Court on Saturday reduced his sentence to just over 2 and a half years in prison, ruling that a month and a half that Navalny spent under house arrest in early 2015 will be deducted from his sentence.
His arrest and imprisonment fueled a huge wave of protests across Russia. Authorities responded with a crackdown, detaining about 11,000 people, many of whom were fined or sentenced to between seven and 15 days in prison.
Speaking before the verdict, Navalny referred to the Bible, as well as “Harry Potter” and the animated sitcom “Rick and Morty,” while urging the Russians to resist pressure from the authorities and challenge the Kremlin to build a country. fairer and more prosperous.
“The government’s job is to scare you and then convince you that you’re alone,” he said. “Our voldemort in his palace also wants me to feel cut off,” he added, referring to Putin.
“Living means risking everything,” he continued. “Otherwise, you’re just an inert piece of randomly assembled molecules floating wherever the universe blows you.”
Navalny also addressed the judge and prosecutor, arguing that he could have a much better life in a new Russia.
“Imagine how wonderful life would be without constant lies,” he said. “Imagine how great it would be to work as a judge when no one could call you and give you instructions on what verdicts to issue.”
He insisted that he had not been able to report to the authorities in accordance with his probation requirements while recovering in Germany after his poisoning, stressing that he had returned to Russia as soon as his health allowed.
“I wasn’t hiding,” he said. “Everyone knew where I was.”
Navalny said he had been an atheist before, but he came to believe in God, adding that his faith helped him meet his challenges. He said he believed in the Bible by saying that those who are hungry and thirsty for justice are blessed and that he did not feel sorry for returning home.
“Even if our country is built unjustly and we all face it, we also see that millions of people want justice,” Navalny told the court. “They will be right and sooner or later they will be right.”
Asked about the impact of Navalny’s prison sentence on Russian politics, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the country’s “rich and multifaceted” political scene would unfold regardless of the verdict.
Russia has rejected Western criticism of Navalny’s arrest and crackdown on demonstrations as interference in its internal affairs.
In a ruling on Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Russian government to release Navalny, citing “the nature and degree of risk to the applicant’s life”. The Strasbourg court noted that Navalny challenged the Russian authorities’ argument that they had taken sufficient measures to protect his life and well-being in custody following the attack of the nervous agent.
The Russian government rejected the Strasbourg-based court’s request, describing the decision as an illegal and “inadmissible” intervention in Russia’s affairs.
In the past, Moscow has complied with ECHR judgments awarding compensation to Russian citizens who have challenged verdicts in Russian courts, but has never faced the European court’s request to release a convict.
As a sign of long-standing dissatisfaction with the Strasbourg court’s verdicts, Russia adopted a constitutional amendment last year declaring national law a priority over international law. The Russian authorities could now use this provision to reject the ECHR ruling.
Later on Saturday, Navalny also faced proceedings in a separate case on charges of defaming a World War II veteran. Prosecutors asked the judge to order Navalny to pay a fine of 950,000 rubles (about $ 13,000).
Navalny, who called the 94-year-old veteran and others portrayed in a pro-Kremlin video last year as “corrupt nonsense,” “unconscious,” and “traitors,” dismissed the libel allegations and described them as part of official efforts to disregard it.
Navalny said at the hearing that his accusers “will burn in hell.”