Navalny Appeals Extension Of Detention Order By Russian Court

Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has appealed a court decision to extend his pretrial detention following his dramatic arrest at a Moscow airport as he returned from Germany, where he was being treated for a poisoning attack.

“Lawyers have filed the appeal with the court. We are asking it overturn the court order and issue a new judgment which will dismiss the motion for detention by the chief of the Russian Interior Ministry’s department in the Khimki district,” Navalny’s lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, was quoted by Interfax as saying on January 21.

At a January 18 hearing that Navalny called a “mockery of justice,” a judge ruled to keep him incarcerated until February 15, by which time a different court is expected to decide whether to convert a suspended 3 1/2-year sentence he served in an embezzlement case he says was trumped up into real jail time.

Navalny’s detention has sparked global outrage and a chorus of international calls pressuring President Vladimir Putin for Navalny’s immediate release.

His team has called for nationwide protests on January 23.

Based on reporting by Interfax