Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny: I deliberately returned to Russia

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Kremlin critic
Three years ago, Alexei Navalny returned to Russia – he consciously accepted the risks

Alexei Navalny joined a hearing via video link from the Arctic penal colony. He is serving a 19-year prison sentence there

© Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP / DPA

A Novichok attack on Alexei Navalny was almost fatal in 2020. He recovered in Germany – and returned to Russia despite all the risks. Now he speaks out from the prison camp in Siberia.

The imprisoned Russian opposition politician According to his own statements, Alexei Navalny deliberately returned to his homeland three years ago and allowed himself to be imprisoned. Navalny wrote on the third anniversary of his return on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that he was often asked why he did not stay abroad. His answer is always: “I have my country and my beliefs.” Anyone who wants to stand up for this in Russia must be prepared to sit in solitary confinement if necessary. “Of course I don’t like being there. But I won’t give up my ideas or my home.”

Alexei Navalny calls for free elections from the prison camp

The 47-year-old Kremlin critic said President Vladimir Putin’s rule will end. His demand for a different leadership is not exotic, sectarian or radical. Anyone who has power must give it back. “The best way to elect a leader is through honest and free elections.”

After being treated in Germany for the consequences of a poison attack, Navalny returned to Russia on January 17, 2021 and was arrested at the airport. Last December, the politician, who was classified as a political prisoner, disappeared for several weeks. It later turned out that the justice system had moved him from the European part of Russia to a prison camp in the far north of Siberia. Navalny suspects that he should be as isolated as possible there before the upcoming presidential election in March.

In Brussels, the EU called for the immediate release of Navalny and other political prisoners in Russia to mark the anniversary.

mkb
DPA

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