Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was embraced by his wife as a new trial opened against him Tuesday in a prison camp courtroom. The proceedings have been condemned by Amnesty International as a show trial. His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was apparently allowed to at least see him briefly after calling the authorities “cowards and scoundrels” on social media Monday when it was reported she would not be allowed to attend. She also taunted the Russian authorities over the location of the trial, saying: “They are afraid to hold the trial in Moscow. Everyone knows perfectly well how he will tear into the charges in court, how he will laugh at this trial. My husband is an honest man and they are keeping him in prison because he is not afraid of this government.” Navalny, who nearly died after an attempted nerve-agent poisoning in 2020 but returned to Russia in 2021 despite the threat of arrest, is accused of embezzling more than $4.7 million-worth of donations in new charges which could see him imprisoned for up to 15 years. He is currently serving a two-and-a-half year sentence in dire conditions. Amnesty International called the proceedings “a sham trial, attended by prison guards rather than the media.”
