Russia’s Navalny jokes about ‘bare birthday celebration’ in first video hyperlink from new jail

Russian opposition flesh presser Alexei Navalny cracked jokes on Wednesday in his first courtroom look since being transferred to an Arctic penal colony, however a pass judgement on rejected his newest problem in opposition to his remedy in jail.Navalny gave the impression by way of video hyperlink from the “Polar Wolf” colony to which he used to be transferred closing month from a jail in Melekhovo, east of Moscow, in an onerous three-week adventure by way of street and rail.He drew laughter from the pass judgement on when he requested at the name whether or not the Melekhovo colony had thrown a birthday celebration to have a good time his departure, and whether or not it had integrated karaoke.He later inquired if the jail division in Melekhovo had staged a unadorned birthday celebration — a connection with a meeting of scantily clad celebrities in Moscow closing month that brought about a nationwide scandal.The exchanges confirmed Navalny’s skill to seek out humor even in his grim state of affairs and to connect to the out of doors international regardless of being despatched to one in every of Russia’s maximum far flung and inhospitable areas.His common courtroom hearings have equipped him with a platform to maintain his assaults on President Vladimir Putin and the struggle in Ukraine and to problem and ridicule his incarcerators. He instructed pass judgement on Kirill Nikiforov, who has presided over many such periods, that “a tear is flowing down my cheek” from the excitement of seeing him once more.Navalny, 47, is serving sentences totaling greater than 30 years on a spread of fees, from fraud to extremist task, that he says have been trumped as much as silence him. In 2020 he survived an try to poison him with a nerve agent.The Kremlin says he’s a convicted prison and his remedy is an issue for the jail provider. It has portrayed him and his supporters as extremists with hyperlinks to the CIA intelligence company who they are saying are in search of to destabilise Russia.At Wednesday’s listening to — a transcript of which used to be compiled by way of impartial Russian information outlet Mediazona — Navalny unsuccessfully argued that government had acted illegally by way of sending him to an isolation mobile in October for insulting a jail inspector.Navalny stated the inspector had confiscated his pen regardless of the reality he used to be entitled to have writing fabrics, and said he “went overboard” by way of calling the authentic a satan, a moron and a scarecrow.However by the point of that incident, he argued, he will have to have already been moved from Melekhovo to any other detention facility after his newest 19-year sentence used to be passed down in August.The pass judgement on rejected Navalny’s grievance.The Polar Wolf colony, some 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, is one in every of Russia’s most harsh. Navalny joked in a social media put up relayed via his legal professionals this week that the temperature had “now not been chillier than -32°C but” and he used to be discovering his early morning workout “invigorating.”In Wednesday’s listening to he stated the meals used to be high-quality however he had but to obtain any letters or telegrams.“I’m rather a ways away,” he stated.

Author: OpenAI