Putin critic Navalny loses appeal against ‘absurd’ jail term

A Moscow court has upheld a ruling to jail Alexei Navalny, rejecting an unlikely appeal by the Kremlin critic against his two year and eight month sentence.

Mr Navalny was convicted earlier this month for supposedly hiding from parole hearings, including during the time he was recovering from nerve agent poisoning in Germany.

The case, widely viewed as politically motivated, hinged on a historical court verdict since overturned by the European Court of Human Rights.

On Wednesday, the Strasbourg court demanded that the Kremlin release its most prominent foe, determining his life was under threat while in jail. Judge Dmitry Balashov said that the ruling would be “taken into account” in his verdict.

In the event, there was no fairytale ending when he returned to announce the verdict shortly before noon: the decision stood, and Mr Navalny would soon be on his way to a prison colony.

In his final statement, Mr Navalny said that the charges laid against him were “absurd.” He had behaved like an “ideal” citizen despite being the subject of an attempted assassination attempt. He informed the prisons inspectorate of his whereabouts “at every moment”.

“I don’t want to brag but the whole world knew where I was,” he said.

At one point, Mr Navalny declared he had “run out” of legal arguments.

“Europe’s human rights court said the initial trial verdict was fabricated, and then they made a ruling to free me,” he said. “But I’m tried, and I’m tried, tried and I’m tried, tried and I’m tried. It all seems very strange.”

The case is the first of two hearings dealing with the Kremlin critic today in an extraordinary double bill being held in the Babushkinsky court in north Moscow. In an early exchange with the judge, Mr Navalny made light of the unusual nature of the process.

“It’s for your own good,” the judge reasoned.

“It would be even better if they let me out,” the politician replied. “That’s what the European Court ruling says.”