Several protesters detained outside Moscow court ahead of Navalny trial

Opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been brought to the Moscow City court for trial. A group of supporters has gathered outside the court, and some have already been detained by police.

Navalny was brought to the court on Tuesday morning. A group of supporters gathered there ahead of the hearings and was met by a sizeable police force.

According to the media, around two dozen people were detained outside of the court before the trial began. The protesters were taken into a police bus, footage from the scene shows.

The court is expected to determine whether to replace Navalny’s suspended sentence with real jail time or not. The opposition activist was arrested on January 17 upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated following an alleged poisoning last summer.

While Navalny was arrested for breaching the terms of his suspended sentence over a fraud case, his supporters claim he is being persecuted for political reasons. The arrest has led to massive protests that have rocked Moscow as well as other Russian cities over the last two weekends.

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The ‘poisoning’ triggered a major scandal, with Navalny’s supporters and some international observers claiming it was a state-sponsored hit involving the notorious Novichok nerve agent. The Russian authorities have denied attempting to kill Navalny, and have accused him of working with foreign intelligence services.

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