Trial against Navalny: sentencing as a marathon

The trial of what is probably Russia’s most well-known opposition figure comes to an end in an improvised courtroom. The only surprise: nine instead of 13 years in prison.

The journalists are led through the middle of the penal colony, over broken asphalt and icy puddles, past a rusty container, a few indefinable buildings and a metal fence with “Honour lies in service” emblazoned in large red letters on a white background. A dog roams around, the security guards are friendly. In groups of 15, the journalists are taken to a room with a monitor on which the hearing is later to be shown.

It is the latest trial so far against Aleksey Navalny, once Russia’s best-known opposition figure, now locked away in this colony, about a three-hour drive from Moscow. Today it’s about an even longer prison sentence than the two and a half years to which he has already been sentenced: the public prosecutor’s office has demanded an additional 13 years. Navalny was accused of embezzling money on a large scale and insulting the court.

Thin and suddenly with glasses

Nobody expects an acquittal – only the sentence is eagerly awaited. With another 13 years, Navalny would remain in prison longer than President Putin in the Kremlin – who can theoretically rule until 2036 after a constitutional change.

The monitor switches on almost on time, and images from another large room in the prison flicker in the packed press room. You can see Navalny in prisoner’s clothing, with two lawyers next to him. Judge Margarita Kotowa, who cannot be seen but can be recognized by her voice, immediately begins her monotonous lecture. It’s hard to understand, she reads a prepared text at breakneck speed. “Found guilty of fraud” is to be understood, then again and again fragments of the reasoning.

The microphones of domestic and foreign broadcasters are on a small table below the monitor – perhaps more can be understood later in the sound recording. Navalny looks thin, once he reaches for his glasses when he wants to read something. No one remembers ever seeing him with glasses. Such details occupy one’s mind, while the incomprehensible explanations on the monitor seem to have no end.

Detention under particularly strict conditions

After four hours of monotonous reading, there is a short break, after which the judge continues reading. Navalny and his lawyers stand while the judge speaks, as court rules dictate. You stand another hour.

Then the surprise – instead of the required 13 years, the verdict is nine years in prison. The explanation for the reduction cannot be understood on the monitor, the lawyer will explain it later: In her judgment, the judge summarized several previous rulings and procedures, from the time the new judgment was valid, the new total prison sentence of nine years.

However, this is to be served in a penal colony under particularly strict prison conditions. This means, for example, that Navalny can only receive four packages from outside each year – with books, for example, or with food to improve the meager fare in the institution. He is only allowed to receive visitors six times a year, three times for just a few hours and three times for three days in a special institution apartment.

Further proceedings pending

When the lawyer Olga Mihajlowa wants to explain all this to the journalists outside the penal colony, she can hardly be understood – her improvised press conference is repeatedly drowned out and interrupted by the megaphones of several police officers, who call for the meeting to end immediately. They block access to the penal colony and hinder their work.

In the end, Mikhailova is arrested together with her colleague Vadim Kobsev and taken away in a police bus. Both will be released the same day. Unlike her client.

Mikhailova and Kobsev will appeal the verdict, but their chances of success are not great. In addition, there are two other cases waiting for Navalny, one of them for founding an extremist organization. It also carries a prison sentence.