Keep on Running

Decided to put this in a separate post. 

Quick Breakdown:

-Alexey Navalny (main opposition leader in Russia) was poisoned with Novichok, a chemical nerve agent that is internationally outlawed.

-He nearly died, and was in a coma for a while. Then he spent a few months in a clinic in Germany recovering

-He released investigations proving that his poisoning was ordered and carried out by the Russian government (not that you would need the investigations to know that, but watch them anyway. They include a phone call to one of the agents actually involved in the poisoning. Check out the video, its called “I called my murderer and he confessed”, bc Navalny is a badass and even his Youtube video titles reflect that)

-While in Germany for treatment, the Russian gov suddenly decided they wanted to convert his old suspended prison sentence (for bogus charges, obviously) to a real one. On the LAST day of that suspended sentence. To be very clear, this suspended sentence is for a FABRICATED crime. As recognized by the European Court of Human Rights (the decisions of which Russia is supposed to abide by).

-Despite the risks, Navalny came back to Russia. He was arrested right in the airport, denied access to phone calls and his lawyer, and then put on trial the same day IN THE FUCKING POLICE STATION. His lawyer, who had been standing outside the station for hours trying to get access to him, was told about the trial a minute before it commenced. He was given a 30 day sentence (for what? who knows. just because) and is currently being held in prison. There is a very large chance that he will get his old suspended sentence turned into a real one (of 3.5 years, or 2.5 if they count out the time he spent under house arrest). Or he’ll get an even larger sentence. Or they’ll just kill him.

-After he got arrested, Navalny’s team released a new investigation they had been sitting on; one about Putin’s lavish lifestyle. In 4 days, it got 75 MILLION views. For context, the population of Russia is about 144 million.

-Navalny was briefly able to access his phone through a meeting with his lawyer and made a post, saying (with his usual dark humor) that he is not planning on hanging himself or slitting his wrists, that he walks down the stairs very carefully, and has the “blood pressure of an astronaut”. What he means is that if something happens to him in prison, it’s not suicide, or an accident, or a heart attack. Since then, his lawyer has not been able to see him, and is not even sure of his whereabouts

- This Saturday, there were protests all over Russia. People are taking to the streets, demanding that Navalny is freed. This is despite the fact that students have been threatened with expulsion if they are spotted at protests, ditto with adults losing jobs. And despite violence from Russian police/OMON officers.

I’ve only laid out the main events: theres an infinite amount of other horrific and absurd details to this story. But please take a moment to care about this.