Alexey Navalny’s hearing relocated to Moscow City Court
Moscow’s Simonovsky District Court will consider the Federal Penitentiary Service’s (FSIN) petition on revoking Alexey Navalny’s probation sentence during a hearing at the Moscow City Court building on Tuesday, February 2.
The Moscow City Court’s spokeswoman, Yulyana Solopova, told Meduza that the hearing’s location was changed in response to the large number of accreditation requests the district court received from media outlets seeking to cover the trial.
Alexey Navalny will be brought to the courthouse to attend the hearing in person, Solopova added.
The FSIN is seeking to revoke Navalny’s probation sentence from the Yves Rocher case and incarcerate him under a reinstated 3.5-year prison sentence. According to Russia’s prison authorities, Navalny violated the terms of his probation while in Germany — where he spent nearly five months in recovery after he was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent in August 2020.
On Monday, February 1, the Russian Attorney General’s Office expressed its support for the FSIN’s claim, declaring it legal and justified.
Alexey Navalny was arrested on January 17, immediately upon returning to Moscow from Berlin. On January 18, the Khimki City Court remanded him in custody for 30 days, sending Navalny to Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina prison. The Moscow Regional Court later refused to overturn the Khimki court’s decision.
Protests opposing Navalny’s detention took place in more than 100 cities across Russia on January 23 and 31. Law enforcement officials responded by arresting demonstrators en masse; they dispersed the crowds violently, using truncheons and tasers against protesters, and even threatening them with service weapons.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was detained by police during the rally in Moscow on January 23, but was released from custody without any charges. She was arrested once again during the demonstration on January 31. The next day, a Moscow court fined her 20,000 rubles ($264) for participating in an unauthorized rally.
More protests are set to take place on the day of Navalny’s hearing.