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Moscow court leaves Russian opposition leader Navalny in detention center until October 21

The Moscow City Court has recognized as legal the ruling of Moscow’s Simonovsky Court on a 20-day administrative arrest of blogger Alexei Navalny for appeals to participation in unauthorized rallies

MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court has recognized as legal the ruling of Moscow’s Simonovsky Court on a 20-day administrative arrest of blogger Alexei Navalny for appeals to participation in unauthorized rallies, thus rejecting the appeal of the blogger’s lawyers, a TASS correspondent reported.

"To leave the decision of the Simonovsky Court unchanged and reject the defense appeal," the Moscow City Court said in its ruling.

On October 2, the Simonovsky Court recognized Navalny guilty under Article 20.2 Part 8 of the Russian Administrative Code ("Repeated violation of the established order of organization or holding of a meeting, rally, demonstration, march or picketing") and imposed 20 days of administrative arrest on him. The district court also recognized Navalny’s detention time in the Danilovsky Department of the Russian Interior Ministry (11 hours) on the day of his detention.

Navalny was arrested on September 29 near his house in Moscow. Police officers made an administrative violation report against him on the basis of his Facebook post calling on his supporters to attend an unauthorized rally in Nizhny Novgorod.

Eye injury and towel hooks

During the session, Navalny’s defense asked to revoke the trial court’s ruling against the blogger and close the case "due to the absence of an event or elements of offense. "The Simonovsky Court did not allow us to summon police officers who detained our defendant and made the corresponding administrative violation report against him," lawyer Olga Mikhailova said, adding that Navalny’s rally was coordinated with the Nizhny Novgorod administration by due process of law. "Due to eye injury, Navalny cannot be exposed to administrative arrest," the appeal says.

Navalny himself stated that he acted in a lawful manner. "I was detained on the basis of a post in another person’s social networks," he said.

The Moscow City Court finally rejected the request of Navalny’s lawyers to summon witnesses on the administrative case to court. In addition, during a break in the session the blogger’s supporters gave plastic towel hooks to the detainee escort officers. "Nowhere to hang towels in the cell," Navalny explained to the officers.