After two consecutive weekends of protests quelled by severe crackdowns in Russia’s major cities, much of northeast Moscow had been locked down by a massive police presence as the hearing played out.

Lines of fully armored riot police blocked off access to the court and officers checked journalists’ credentials at a series of military-style checkpoints beginning around half a mile from the court building. 

Throughout the course of the day, almost 350 people were detained on the approaches to the courthouse after they exited the nearest metro station, according to the OVD-Info police monitoring group.

Only a handful of Navalny supporters managed to slip through the police ranks.

Yevgeniya, a 27-year-old illustrator who declined to give her last name, said she had got up at the crack of dawn to be there.

“I’m here because Navalny shouldn’t be jailed, this case is entirely political and contradicts every right our constitution gives us,” she said.

Arsen Bilalov, a 42-year-old teacher, had traveled almost 2,000 kilometers from his hometown of Makhachkala in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, where he had already been briefly detained for protesting on Jan. 23. He said he had supported Navalny since the opposition leader exposed corruption in the Dagestani government a decade ago.

“We have to defend Navalny today, because otherwise even worse things will happen tomorrow.”

Not everyone near the courthouse was a fan of Navalny. A woman returning to her home in the area had no time for the protesters and journalists present, and shouted that Navalny was an agent of the U.S. government.

Call for immediate protests

The original suspended sentence handed to Navalny was for 3.5 years, but the roughly one year he already served under house arrest as part of the first trial will count against that time, meaning he will be imprisoned for a total of two years and eight months.

Navalny is due for another court appearance later this week on charges of defaming a World War II veteran. In December, Russian investigators opened another ongoing criminal probe into Navalny, alleging he used donations to his organizations for personal purposes including holidays abroad. That charge carries a penalty of up to 10 more years in prison.

After Tuesday’s sentence was announced, Navalny’s supporters in Moscow called for immediate protests near the Kremlin despite heavy riot police presence throughout the city center.

Demonstrations in his support have been attended not just by Russians demanding his release, but also by those angry at falling living standards who were spurred on by an investigation Navalny released after his arrest claiming that Putin owns an opulent billion-dollar palace on the Black Sea coast.   

While some of those gathered outside the courthouse on Tuesday were longtime Navalny supporters, others had joined the cause after his return to his homeland.

“Before last summer we weren’t especially supportive of Navalny,” said Kseniya, a 30-year old marketing director and veteran of a decade of Moscow protest movements who had come to the court with her husband.

“But the story of his poisoning and return to Russia was really impressive. You have to be sincere to do that. He showed that he’s willing to die for this country.”

With reporting from AFP.

Source - themoscowtimes.com