Alexei Navalny appears in court facing criminal libel case criticised as ‘fabrication’

Navalny appeared in court on new charges just days after he was jailed in a separate case

Credit: Babushkinsky District Court /TASS via Getty Images

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was back in court on Friday facing defamation charges, just days after he was jailed for three years on separate charges sparking international condemnation.

Prosecutors say Mr Navalny slandered a Second World War veteran who took part in a pro-Kremlin video last year. 

The 44-year-old activist pleaded not guilty to the charges, which he and supporters claim have been fabricated to undermine his public support.

The trial began as EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell met with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Mr Borrell said he would send a “clear message” to Russia over Navalny’s jailing, though the Kremlin has already brushed off criticism of the conviction.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow could “explain but not discuss” the decision, while the Russian foreign ministry accused Western leaders of focusing on the case to distract from troubles at home. 

A Russian court on Tuesday converted Mr Navalny’s suspended sentence over a 2014 fraud conviction, which he says was politically motivated, into a real jail term. 

Protests have erupted around Russia at Mr Navalny's arrest

Credit: Babushkinsky District Court/TASS via Getty Images

The opposition leader’s arrest last month on his return to Russia, after recovering in Germany from a near-fatal nerve-agent poisoning, sparked nationwide protests that have seen thousands arrested.

If convicted on the slander charge he faces a fine or community service. Defamation is now a jailable offense in Russia but Mr Navalny’s lawyer argued he could not face a prison term because the alleged crime was committed before the law was changed.

“I understand very well why this case has been brought, why it was fabricated,” Mr Navalny told the court. 

“The whole thing was invented by PR people and [state media] journalists… everyone knows that investigations are fabricated, the prosecutors are shameless and the court is corrupt.”

Mr Navalny called the veteran and others “the shame of the country” on social media, over their support for constitutional changes that allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until at least 2036.