Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Navalny Arrested on Return to Russia
Alexei Navalny returned to Moscow from Germany yesterday, where he had been recovering from poisoning at the hands of the Russian security forces. Authorities diverted his plane from Vnukovo airport in Moscow to Sheremetyevo so his supporters would not see their man arrive. At passport control, Russian police took him into custody, and a Russian court says he can be held for 30 days while things are sorted out. The authorities are already trying to impose a suspended sentence from 2014 on him, a political conviction that smelled from the beginning. He is a brave man, but one wonders if he is playing a losing hand.
The Moscow Times published a time line that read in part, "20:50 Navalny briefly talks to journalists after getting into the airport terminal. He said that he is 'absolutely happy' that he arrived, calling it the 'best day in the last five months.'
"The politician criticized the authorities for diverting the plane and 'putting the aviation industry in danger.' He apologized to the other passengers for all the commotion and said he is not afraid of arrest. Navalny is now going through passport control.
"21.00 Navaly has been arrested at passport control. His lawyer was not allowed to join him."
That seems par for the course. For years, Mr. Navalny has been denied access to the legal system's protections such, as they are in Russia, systematically for years. From passport control, the police took him to Khimki police station, and from there to a hearing room.
The Washington Post adds, "'I don't know what's going on,' Navalny, 44, said in a videoed comment in court, where pro-Kremlin media had been ushered in. 'A few minutes ago I was taken from my cell to meet my lawyers and they brought me here to a session of the Khimki city court. There are unknown people in the room, unknown people recording video,' he said in the video released by his press secretary."
Mr. Navalny took a swipe at President Putin next, "'I don't understand. Why was no one warned? No summons? I have seen a lot of mockeries of justice but this time the grandpa in his bunker [Mr. Putin] is so afraid that the criminal code has been just torn apart and dumped. What is happening here is impossible. It is the highest degree of lawlessness and I can't give it any other definition."
The WaPo also reported, "Olga Mikhailova told Judge Elena Morozova that no notice of the hearing had been given to Navalny's legal team, 'It is secret even for me. Having entered here, I found out that a court session was underway. Is this open?' The judge then gave Navalny's lawyers 30 minutes to read the case materials and 20 minutes to consult with Navalny."
They have already tried poisoning him. Throwing him back into prison will buy Mr. Putin some breathing space, but Mr. Navalny will remain a problem. While the Trump administration would probably not care one way or the other about him, the Biden team will likely make a fuss over this latest arrest, and the EU already has.
The Russian government has already responded to the human rights concerns. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated at a news conference, "It looks like Western politicians view this as an opportunity to divert attention from the deepest crisis the liberal development model has ever found itself in."
Or conversely, Russian politicians are going to divert attention from their own violations of human rights by throwing the spotlight back on unrest that their cyber-spies created.
One thoroughly expects the kangaroo court to convict Mr. Navalny and exile him to a camp in the forests of Siberia for a few years, or perhaps, he will stay in Moscow in only slightly less awful conditions. He will remain a cause celebre for the liberals of Russia and a human rights issue in global affairs.
But he may "get sick" while in prison, and prison doctors are not necessarily the best in the country. Sergei Magnitsky died in prison, so there is precedent. This journal fears that, at this point, Mr. Navalny will enter prison and not come out alive. His problem is he has no leverage beyond the media spotlight, and that is a fickle thing.
© Copyright 2021 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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