Washington Post: “Ten days after opposition leader Alexei Navalny last appeared in a makeshift courtroom at a Moscow police station, Navalny is set to have an appeals hearing on Thursday over the decision to jail him ahead of his trial next week. It’s unlikely the Moscow Regional Court will free Navalny, who was sentenced to 30 days at a pretrial detention center pending his Feb. 2 trial for allegedly violating probation terms. But Thursday’s hearing could give Navalny and his allies another opportunity to call for street protests.”
“Navalny has requested to participate directly in the appeals hearing, his lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, told the Meduza news outlet, but it’s unclear if he will be allowed to appear in person due to coronavirus restrictions. At Navalny’s last court appearance on Jan. 18 – he returned to Russia the night before after recovering in Germany from a near-fatal poisoning – Navalny was able to record a video message for his supporters. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny calls for protests after court orders him to be held for 30 days upon his return ‘They are afraid of you,’ he said, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime a gang of monstrous crooks. ‘They are afraid, and that is why they do things urgently and secretly.'”