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Updated April 29th, 2021 at 18:40 IST

Authorities paint over huge Navalny mural, Kremlin critic appears in court

The mural of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny painted by an anonymous artist on a building in central St Petersburg was promptly painted over.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Alexei Navalny
Image credits: @srbija_eu/Twitter | Image:self
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The mural of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny painted by an anonymous artist on a building in central St Petersburg, was promptly painted over by the authorities on Wednesday. Navalny’s mural that showed the Kremlin critic smiling and gesturing a heart with his hands in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hometown had a slogan next to it that said, “A hero of a new time.” However, the Russian authorities continue its clampdown on Putin critic’s support and whose activist network is on the verge of being outlawed as “extremist.”

As per reports, the Police officers arrived in front of the building at 9 AM (local time) on Wednesday and started painting yellow colour over the large mural and finished the entire wall in 90 minutes. Navalny is currently serving a jail time of two and a half years for parole violations on an earlier conviction. He has labelled the move as “politically motivated.” The next day of mural being painted over, on April 29, Navalny also made his first public appearance since holding a 24-day hunger strike in the prison over the treatment of authorities and denying medical assistance for his condition. 

Navalny appeared first time after hunger strike, other updates

As per the Guardian report, Navalny appeared ‘gaunt but spirited’ on Thursday as he attended a courtroom appeal against a defamation conviction virtually. The photograph released by the court showed the Kremlin critic with a shaved head and wearing a prison jacket. Navalny was fined 850,000 roubles (£8,200) in February for defaming a World War II veteran who supported the “reset” of Putin’s presidential years.

Navalny said, “I am a creepy skeleton...I weighed this much in 7th grade.”

Further, in the courtroom speech, the Kremlin critic accused the Putin-led government of turning “Russians into slaves” and called the President “naked king” which was reportedly in reference to Hans Christian Andersen’s folk story The Emperor’s New Clothes. He said, “I want to say, my dear judge, that your king is naked, and it’s not just one boy yelling about it, millions of people are yelling about it...Twenty years of his fruitless rule have led to this result: a crown falling from his ears, lies on television, we’ve wasted trillions of roubles, and our country continues to slide into poverty.” 

Image credits: AP

However, he lost the appeal. The Thursday hearing that featured the Putin critic came as his nationwide network of regional headquarters is being shut down along with his Anti-Corruption Foundation being in the brink of being named “extremist.” As per the report, On April 29, Navalny and two aides, Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov were also named suspects in a criminal case into opening a non-governmental organisation alleged to endanger citizens as well as their rights. Zhdanov reportedly called the charges “exotic.” This further implied that Russian authorities are going to continue their clampdown on Navalny, his allies, and the national network created in his support. 

Image credits: @srbija_eu/Twitter

 

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Published April 29th, 2021 at 18:40 IST

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