On February 2, the Moscow City Court found that President Vladimir Putin’s loudest critic Alexei Navalny violated his parole and sentenced the Navalny to over 2 years in prison.
In particular, Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in a penal colony after a Moscow court found him guilty of disobeying the terms of his probation over the 2014 money laundering case. Given that he had already spent ten months under the house arrest, he would spend only two years and 8 months behind bars.
The politician's lawyers demanded the application be rejected. Navalny rejected the claims of violating parole and slammed the process as an attempt to silence him.
During the hearing, Navalny said his trial was aimed at making people afraid. He blamed the charges against him on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny made a speech in the courtroom.
“Hundreds of thousands cannot be locked up,” Mr Navalny said during the hearing before he was sentenced. “More and more people will recognize this. And when they recognize this — and that moment will come — all of this will fall apart, because you cannot lock up the whole country…. The main thing in this whole trial isn’t what happens to me. Locking me up isn’t difficult. What matters most is why this is happening. This is happening to intimidate large numbers of people. They’re imprisoning one person to frighten millions," he said.
At the end of 2014, Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in the Yves Rocher case. He had to be registered with the FSIN twice a month. The court listed Navalny's "violations", in particular his 60 non-appearance for inspection.
"Why are you sitting here and telling the court you didn't know where I was? I fell into a coma, then I was in the ICU, then in rehabilitation. I contacted my lawyer to send you a notice. You had the address, my contact details. What else could I have done to inform you?" he said.
The government representative suggested that Navalny should have called the department at the phone numbers listed on their website.
“I demand my immediate release and the release of all political prisoners. I do not recognize your performance here — it’s a deception and completely illegal,” Navalny finished his speech.
According to "Apostrophe", Navalny's supporters were massively detained when approaching the courthouse.