Status: 08/20/2022 1:19 p.m
Two years ago, the Russian opposition leader Navalny almost died as a result of a poison attack. Chancellor Scholz therefore recalls the “brave man” and criticizes Russia’s handling of freedom of expression.
On the second anniversary of the poison attack on Alexei Navalny, Chancellor Olaf Scholz recalled the fate of the Kremlin opponent who was imprisoned in Russia. “We should think about that now,” said the SPD politician in a video message. Because the Russian war against Ukraine also has consequences for Russia. “Freedom and democracy were threatened before. But now freedom of expression is even more threatened and many are afraid to speak their mind.”
That’s why it’s so important to think about Navalny these days, said Scholz. He is “unchanged a courageous man” and stands for the principles “that offer good prospects for many citizens of Russia. Namely, that life is best in a democracy and a constitutional state”.
Scholz spoke to Navalny in Berlin
The most prominent opponent of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin barely survived an assassination attempt with the chemical warfare agent Novichok on August 20, 2020 and recovered from it in Germany. When he voluntarily returned to Moscow in January 2021, he was immediately arrested. The 46-year-old has been in prison ever since.
Scholz said he spoke to Navalny during his time in Berlin and “met a courageous man who returned to Russia because he wanted to fight for democracy, freedom and the rule of law”. Today Navalny is “in a penal camp in Russia, even in a small cell”.
“For the second time I celebrate my second birthday”
According to his own statements, Navalny celebrated the second anniversary of the poison attack on him as a birthday. “For the second time I’m celebrating my second birthday. The day they killed me, but I didn’t die for whatever reason,” Navalny wrote in a greeting from the prison camp published on Instagram. In it he once again blamed Putin for the assassination attempt and criticized the fact that the case had still not been officially investigated.
The Kremlin denies there was a crime. Because of alleged fraud, Putin’s fiercest opponent is being held in penal colony 6 in Melekhovo near the city of Kovrov, about 260 kilometers north-east of Moscow – under particularly harsh prison conditions. In May, a court upheld the nine-year prison sentence.
“The system has dropped every mask”
The prominent opposition figure again pointed out that a research team had proven that the assassination was committed by a group from the Russian domestic secret service FSB. “Because I survived, the Kremlin became so bitter that they first sentenced me to 3.5 years and then to nine years.”
The case not only revealed the criminal nature of Putin and his regime, but also had an impact on the entire political system in Russia. “The system dropped every mask; at the end of January 2021 it became repressive and authoritarian without hesitation,” said Navalny.