Alexey Navalny calls on his supporters to take to the streets as his team announces protests on Saturday
After being remanded in custody for 30 days pending trial, Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has released a video message on his popular YouTube channel “Navalny Live,” calling on his supporters to take to the streets.
Navalny’s message: “Don’t be afraid, take to the streets”
Navalny LIVE
What are these bunker thieves afraid of? You yourself know very well. People taking to the streets. So this is the thing, the political factor that can’t be ignored. It itself is the main thing, the most important thing. This is the essence of politics. So don’t be afraid — take to the streets. Go out not for me, but for yourself, for your future.
The head of Navalny’s regional network, Leonid Volkov, also announced on Twitter that his team “are beginning preparations immediately for large rallies across the country on January 23” (this coming Saturday).
“Navalny’s headquarters across the country are beginning preparations immediately for large rallies across the country on January 23, without waiting for a new trial. Alexey Navalny should be released immediately.”
Navalny was remanded custody at the request of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, which is seeking to revoke his probation in Yves Rocher case and incarcerate him under a reinstated sentence on the grounds that he evaded the oversight of the corrective services.
Navalny flew home to Moscow from Berlin on Sunday, January 17, after spending five months in Germany recovering from chemical nerve agent poisoning. Police detained the opposition figure after he landed at Sheremetyevo International Airport and took him to a police station in Khimki, where his remand hearing was held the next day.
Read more about Navalny’s return to Russia
- Alexey Navalny remanded in custody for 30 days pending trial
- Bringing the court to him Here’s everything that’s happened since police detained Alexey Navalny in Moscow last night
- Alexey Navalny returns to Russia Police arrest the opposition politician after he arrives in Moscow
- The latest case against Mr. Navalny Meduza breaks down the evidence, or lack thereof, presented by federal investigators against Russia’s top oppositionist
Navalny’s poisoning
Alexey Navalny was on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow when he fell violently ill on August 20. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, where he was hospitalized in a coma; two days later he was transferred to Germany for treatment. On September 2, German officials confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group of nerve agents. Navalny was discharged from the hospital on September 23. Russia denies any involvement in the poisoning.
The Yves Rocher case
In 2014, Alexey Navalny and his brother Oleg were found guilty of embezzlement and laundering funds stolen from two Russian companies associated with the French cosmetics brand “Yves Rocher.” Oleg Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and Alexey Navalny was given a 3.5-year probation sentence. The brothers pleaded not guilty, calling the case politically motivated. In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights declared the verdicts “unjust” and ordered the Russian authorities to pay the Navalny brothers compensation. Their sentences were never overturned, however.