Tuesday 24 May 2022 02:31 PM Navalny tells judge 'you, your system and Putin are traitors against Russia' as ... trends now
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny unsurprisingly lost his legal appeal against a nine-year prison sentence on Tuesday as he lashed the judge as a 'traitor to Russia'.
President Vladimir Putin's top foe appeared at the hearing in Moscow City Court via video-link from his prison colony and took the opportunity to tell the judge, 'it's you, your system and Putin who are traitors against the Russian people'.
His sentencing came as the Kremlin seeks to silence the remaining government critics within Russia as it pushes on with its military offensive in neighbouring Ukraine.
A Moscow court ruled to 'leave the sentence without changes' and for it to enter into force immediately, meaning that the leader of Russia's embattled opposition will be transferred to a strict-regime penal colony with harsh conditions, including few family visits.
Navalny in late March had his sentence extended to nine years after he was found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in what his allies say are trumped up charges to remove a dangerous adversary for the Kremlin.
President Vladimir Putin's top foe appeared at the hearing at Moscow City Court via video-link from behind bars at his prison colony outside Moscow, wearing a black prisoner uniform and a fur-collared winter jacket.
At a hearing yesterday Putin critic Alexei Navalny had his nine-year jail sentence to a penal colony upheld by a Moscow court
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link from the IK-2 corrective penal colony in Pokrov
A man walks past the barbed wire fence of the IK-3 penal colony where Navalny is reported to have served some of his sentence
He used the hearing as an opportunity to speak to the media and once again lambast Vladimir Putin and the Russian state for its crimes and corruption that he and his allies charge it with
President Vladimir Putin's top foe appeared at the hearing at Moscow City Court via video-link from behind bars at his prison colony outside Moscow, wearing a black prisoner uniform and a fur-collared winter jacket
The opposition politician appeared composed during the hearing, even joking about problems with the sound system
Vladimir Putin has moved aggressively to dispose of Navalny, a long-term thorn in his side who has consistently revealed Kremlin corruption and challenged his rule
He dismissed his trial as 'meaningless', saying: 'I despise your court, your system.'
'It's you, your system and Putin who are traitors against the Russian people', said Navalny, 45. 'I am ready to sit in jail to prove that not everyone in Russia is like this'.
Navalny used his speech to condemn the Kremlin and its military campaign in Ukraine.
'What Putin is doing is pointless,' he said. 'One crazy thief has seized hold of Ukraine and no one understands what he wants to do with it'.
The opposition politician appeared composed during the hearing, even joking about problems with the sound system.
'Your time will pass and you will burn in hell,' he concluded his speech.
