Russian court hears Navalny complaints on prison conditions

Petushki, Russie: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared in court via video link on Wednesday for the start of hearings into complaints against conditions at his penal colony.

Navalny, 44, was jailed in February and is serving two-and-a-half years at a facility outside Moscow on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated. His detention, which came months after he survived a near-fatal poisoning attack, was met with sharp condemnation from Western countries which slapped fresh sanctions on the Kremlin in response.

The complaints heard on Wednesday centre around Navalny’s claims that prison authorities are refusing to provide him with books sent to him by relatives, including the Holy Qur’aan, and that they are censoring newspapers he receives.