Demonstrators are demanding Navalny’s release
On the occasion of the 47th birthday of Kremlin critic Navalny, people around the world demonstrated for his release.
In Russia, too, people took to the streets, and more than 100 people are said to have been arrested.
On the occasion of the 47th birthday of the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, people in Russia and various other countries demonstrated for his release. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch published photos from Russia, Germany, Japan, Australia and Georgia on Twitter.
Protests in several Russian cities
In Moscow and other cities, some of Navalny’s supporters stood alone in squares or sprayed slogans on the walls to demonstrate against his imprisonment. The police, which increased patrols in the center of Moscow, among other things, quickly led the demonstrators away. One threw leaflets around before police officers took him away, reporters from the AP news agency observed.
A woman wore a black birthday balloon and a hoodie that read, “You’re not alone.” When she asked why she was being arrested, she received no answer from the police. According to the civil rights portal OVD-Info, a total of 109 people were taken into custody in 23 cities.
Navalny let it be known that he was in a good mood, although of course 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 placed almost continuously in an isolation cell two by three meters in size. Human rights activists speak of torture.
