Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared in a video for the first time since his disappearance on Wednesday. His team announced on December 25 that they had found him in a detention camp. Navalny was untraceable for weeks.
In early December, Navalny's team announced that they did not know his whereabouts and could not contact him. By the end of the month, they found him in a concentration camp north of the Arctic Circle.
After the transfer, Navalny has already made himself heard on social media through his staff, but no new photos of him have emerged yet. On Tuesday, he appeared before a judge via videoconference in a case he filed regarding his treatment in custody.
According to Navalny, he was wrongly sent to solitary confinement in October after insulting an employee who took his pen. He admitted that he went too far when he described the employee as the devil, a fool, and a scarecrow. The judge rejected Navalny's complaint.
The Opposition Leader made jokes during the hearing, as he often does. He made the judge laugh when he asked if his former penal colony celebrated his passing and if there was karaoke too. He also made jokes in a conversation with reporters who followed the session remotely.
Navalny is now in one of the country's toughest penal colonies, about 1,200 miles from Moscow. The 47-year-old Russian has been in detention since January 2021, and has since been sentenced to more than thirty years in prison on charges of, among other things, fraud and extremism.
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Navalny geeft na drie weken teken van leven: advocaat spreekt hem in strafkamp
