MOSCOW — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who organized a wave of nationwide protests against government corruption that rattled authorities, was jailed for 15 days on Monday by a Moscow court for resisting police orders.
Navalny was arrested on Sunday as he walked to a protest in Moscow and spent the night in jail before appearing in court.
Tens of thousands of anti-corruption protesters took to the streets across Russia on Sunday in the biggest show of defiance since 2011-2012 anti-government protests.
Journalists and well-wishers on Monday packed the courtroom in central Moscow where Navalny was taken.
He posted a selfie on Twitter from the courtroom, saying: “A time will come when we’ll put them on trial too — and that time it will be fair.”
The 40-year-old Navalny, Russia’s most popular, charismatic opposition leader, has been twice convicted on fraud and embezzlement charges that he has dismissed as politically motivated.
Navalny, who is currently serving a suspended sentence, has also recently announced his bid for the presidency in Russia’s 2018 election.
“Even the slightest illusion of fair justice is absent here,” Navalny told reporters on Monday at the defendant’s bench, complaining about the judge striking down one motion after another.
“Yesterday’s events have shown that quite a large number of voters in Russia support the program of a candidate who stands for fighting corruption. These people demand political representation — and I strive to be their political representative.”
The Kremlin has dismissed the opposition as a Westernized urban elite disconnected from the issues faced by the poor in Russia’s far-flung regions.
Yet Sunday’s protests included demonstrations in the areas that typically produce a high vote for President Vladimir Putin, from the far western city of Chita in Siberia to southern Dagestan’s capital of Makhachkala.
Russian police say about 500 people were arrested in the protests on Sunday, but a human rights group published a list of detainees that has more than 1,000 names. — AP
