Russia Detains 1,400 People After Sentencing Kremlin Critic Navalny

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Monitors say over 1,400 people have been detained in Russia during the latest protests supporting jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The riots came after a Moscow court sentenced him on Tuesday to nearly three years imprisonment.

Russian riot used violence against Navalny supporters and security forces were filmed beating demonstrators with batons. At least a thousand people were reportedly detained since Tuesday in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Earlier protestors were taken into custody outside the Moscow City Court. They expressed anger that Navalny was jailed. As he looked on through the window of his cage in the courtroom, the court sentenced him to three and half years imprisonment. About a year he spent under house arrest will be counted as time served.

As the verdict was read, Navalny smiled and pointed to his wife Yulia in the courtroom. He traced the outline of a heart with his hands on the glass cage. “Everything will be fine,” he told her as guards led him away.

But the sentence came as a significant setback for his supporters, such as Andrei. As police buses arrived to take away many demonstrators, he expressed desperation about Navalny’s jail sentence and police actions.

“This is total lawlessness. In short, lawless actions of authorities. You can think whatever you want about Alexei Navalny as a politician, a high profile person, or a person, “he said. “But the problem is that even such a high profile person in Russia can be arrested in a live television broadcast without any reason. It means that with people like you and I, unknown people, they can do whatever they want to us.”

WESTERN CONCERNS

European leaders and the United States have also condemned the sentencing and police action. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki shared those concerns. “We are deeply concerned by Russian authorities efforts — “decision,” I should say — to sentence opposition figure Aleksey Navalny…,” she said. Psaki referred to a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who earlier criticized the sentence.

“Like every Russian citizen, Mr. Navalny is entitled to the rights provided in the Russian constitution. And Russia has international obligations to respect the equality before the law and the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Psaki stressed.

“We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny. As well as the hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights,” she stressed to reporters.

In January, Navalny returned to Russia after being treated in Germany for a near-fatal nerve agent attack last August. The 44-year-old married father of two says Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Novichok agent’s attack, describing him as a “poisoner”.

Moscow denies the allegation and says police responded to what it calls Tuesday’s “unauthorized protests.”

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