Europe | Legal vacuum

Alexei Navalny’s lawyers are arrested

Vladimir Putin’s latest act of persecution

Lawyer Alexey Liptser appears in court in Moscow
Image: Getty Images

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best-known opposition leader, has been in captivity for more than 1,000 days, and in solitary confinement for 224 of them. He was denied medical treatment when ill, has been refused visits by his family for more than a year and is not allowed to make telephone calls. Yet Mr Navalny, ever stoical, has described his imprisonment not as martyrdom, but as a nuisance and a challenge that needs to be overcome.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Alexei Navalny loses his lawyers”

From the October 21st 2023 edition

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