More than 100 of his supporters have been arrested during protests on the birthday of imprisoned Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. According to the civil rights portal OVD-Info, 109 people were taken into custody in 23 cities on Sunday. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the police have been extremely tough on demonstrators, with arbitrary arrests being made. Anyone who denigrates the army, as the Russian leadership calls it, or publicly calls the war, which is still referred to as a special operation in Russia, face long prison sentences.
Demonstrations in honor of Navalny were held not only in Russia but also in other countries. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch published photos from Japan, Australia and Georgia on Twitter, for example. A rally was also announced in Berlin.
Navalny said he was in a good mood, although he would rather be with his family than in the penal camp 260 kilometers northeast of Moscow. “But the way life works is that societal progress and a better future can only be achieved if a certain number of people are willing to pay the price for their right to their beliefs,” he wrote. “And there will certainly come a day when speaking the truth and standing up for justice will be something commonplace and safe in Russia.”
The most prominent critic of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has been a political prisoner in prison for alleged fraud for more than two years. So far he has been sentenced to nine years in prison. In a new trial that is about to begin, he faces up to 30 more years. In 2020, Navalny barely survived an attack with the neurotoxin Novichok, for which the Russian state is blamed in the West. For months he has been locked up almost continuously in a two-by-three-meter isolation cell. Human rights activists speak of torture.