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Moscow (dpa) - With a bony face and shaved head, the Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny, weakened by his three-week hunger strike, can be seen again for the first time.
During the video link from his prison camp on Thursday, the 44-year-old attacked President Vladimir Putin once again.
Every child now sees that the Kremlin chief is a “naked emperor” who is plundering his country, robbing people of their future prospects and clinging to power, says Navalny in a weakened voice.
His confidante Leonid Volkov, who lives abroad, reports that the opposition movement's regional headquarters across the country are now being shut down under pressure from the Russian judiciary in response to a case of alleged extremism.
It is not clear when the verdict will be given.
However, the prosecution and the court have already paralyzed organizations in the movement, including parts of Nawalny's anti-corruption foundation.
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Navalny's lawyers continue to demand that the “secret trial” be opened and that the documents containing the allegations be made available to the public.
But such appeals, as well as international calls for a release, ricochet off the Kremlin walls.
25 years of political reconstruction work have now been destroyed, according to Nawalny's team.
He himself will not be heard in this process.
Navalny, however, uses an appeal process scheduled on the same day in another procedure to once again complain of abuse of power and arbitrariness of the judiciary under Putin.
In his closing remarks he speaks ironically as usual, even if less forcefully than last: "I would like to say, my dear dish, that your Kaiser is naked."
20 years of completely incompetent leadership under Putin would have led to this result: “There is a crown that slips over your ears.
There are tons of lies on TV.
And of course there is enormous personal wealth. "
Navalny complains of deficiencies in the education and health care system and criticizes the fact that the raw material power is not making headway despite billions in revenues from oil and gas.
Hundreds of thousands left the country to look for a better future elsewhere.
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In his penal camp in Pokrov, around 100 kilometers east of Moscow, there are hardly any proper roads; the average income is 30,000 rubles (around 330 euros). Judge Natalja Kuryschewa interrupts him again and again; but Navalny speaks out before telling him that his appeal against a conviction for insulting a World War II veteran has been dismissed. She sees it as proven that Navalny insulted the man as a "traitor". Kurysheva also confirms the fine: 850,000 rubles (9,400 euros).
Navalny uses a consultation break to speak to his wife Julia, who is sitting in the hall.
"Juljaschka, if you can hear me, get up for a second so I can look at you."
She stands up and takes off the black mask.
"I'm so happy to see you," he says.
"And I'm glad to see you," she replies.
Putin's opponent still weighs 72 kilos after his hunger strike.
"Of course I look like a skeleton."
Navalny expects a period of weeks to regain his strength under medical observation.
"Yesterday I had four spoons of porridge, today I'll have six and now I'm waiting for ten," he says.
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Navalny says he is completely sealed off from information from the outside world.
He also sued the prison system to grant him the right to newspapers and books.
And asks to be treated by independent specialists for back problems and paralysis in the limbs.
The Kremlin opponent was arrested in Moscow on January 17 on his return from Germany, where he had recovered from an assassination attempt with the neurotoxin Novichok. A court then sentenced him to several years in prison for allegedly violating probation conditions in a previous trial. Navalny considers the various criminal trials and the assassination attempt against him to be politically motivated to keep him cold.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210429-99-406886 / 2