Aleksei Navalny, Russian opposition leader and victim of thug Vladimir Putin's attempt to poison him, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail by a judge in Russia. Navalny arrived in Moscow on Saturday and was detained after recuperating in Germany from Putin's attempt on his life in August. In Putin style, the trial was rushed in a mskeshift courtroom so Navalny would have as little legal defense and public exposure as possible:
"As international pressure mounted, Mr. Navalny faced a judge not in a regular courtroom, but inside the police station in Khimki, a city bordering Moscow, where he was being held. A lawyer for Mr. Navalny, Vadim Kobzev, said he was notified of the hearing minutes before it started." (our emphasis)
There was this ironically appropriate detail from the kangaroo courtroom:
"Photographs from inside the makeshift courtroom showed a portrait just behind Mr. Navalny of Genrikh Yagoda — a director of the Soviet secret police who supervised Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s and expanded the prison-camp system known as the Gulag." (our emphasis)
Navalny faces several years in prison for allegedly violating parole on a 42 month suspended prison sentence for "financial crimes" that were manufactured by the Russian state to silence Putin's leading political adversary.
(photo: Navalny exits police station after sentencing. Alexander Nemenov/AFP Getty)
