Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition leader (who since August 2020 was poisoned by a nerve agent, spent about a month in a coma, recovered, returned to Russia to be arrested in the airport, held in solitary confinement for almost a month, got sentenced for 2.8 years in a penal colony in a fabricated case) faced another, 9 hour-long court hearing today.
You most likely didn't hear about it and for a good reason--a striking number of journalists who covered his first trial and the mass protests against this injustice, are now in jail or under house arrests. During prior hearings, people in Russia protested the injustice. An estimated 300,000 over two weekends protested in Navalny's support and against Putin; 10,000 were arrested; brutal suppression, riot police violence, torture followed. Navalny's allies are under house arrest with no access to the Internet. Social media platforms are fined. The only newspaper that was covering this hearing live (that I found) was Meduza--and its editor is also in jail. The court building was circled by security services. Navalny's defense witnesses were not allowed in the courthouse.
The trial itself was more than a travesty. It was Kafka, Orwell and Lewis Carrol, all mixed together. Here is an example: During this trial today, prosecutors asked a linguistics professor to define “honor”, “shame of the country”, “dignity”, and “traitor,” as well as "ethics category" vs. "grammatical “statement.” There was more to it than pure absurd, though.
A fabricated case is based on Navalny's social media comment (kind of what you are reading now) on RT (Russia Today) promotional video. The video featured random people (actors, musicians, mothers, cheese farmers, etc) speaking in favor of the referendum for changes to the Russian Constitution in 2020. The main purpose of those changes was to extend Putin’s presidency term till 2036 (yes, you read it correctly.) Navalny, in his video, posted on his popular YouTube channel, called the people featured in RT's video "traitors" and "paid lackeys." One of these people happened to be a 95-year-old WWII heavily decorated veteran. Someone, a complete stranger, "got offended" and sued Navalny for slander against the veteran. Now, Navalny faces additional jail time in addition to the existing sentence of 2.8 years. He is accused of spreading “deliberately false information denigrating the honor and dignity."
The veteran refused to appear in court as he was too tired. The videos in question were stalling and pausing due to the bad connection. Navalny stood his grounds and repeated, “I consider those who are persuading people to vote for making Putin a tsar traitors and lackeys.”
What is really important for us here in the West: This trial is organized according to the rules of military propaganda ("political technology" in Russian): it plays on emotions. Its main purpose is not to sentence Navalny to more years in prison. It is designed to reprogram the emotions of his supporters; to incept Navalny's negative image into the collective mind.
This is how it is done: WWII has been hi-jacked by the Kremlin over the last ten years to amplify the nationalistic sentiments. Every family in the former USSR suffered losses and tragedies during 1941–1945. Even the numbers are emotionally charged. That’s why the “victim” of slander is the veteran (not a mother, a cheese farmer, an actor.) It is a trigger to 95% of Russian people, old and young. By blaming Navalny for insulting a “Great Patriotic War”(WWII), the regime plays on the transgenerational, deep collective trauma of the Russian people.
It is a brilliant smear campaign. This is why they let Navalny speak: the plan is that he, by his own words, would make himself unpopular with his own base. The prosecutor asked Navalny, ”Are you intentionally destroying the historical legacy and memory of the Great Patriotic War?” “Did your supporters share photos of Nazi criminals to the website of the Immortal Legion (a patriotic movement hi-jacked by the Kremlin)”? They didn't need his answers. The questions plant negative emotions. It is called the "rotten herring" tactic.
Words “honor”, “dignity”, “motherland”, “traitor”, “patriotism” are emotive words and trigger extreme reactions. "Shame for the country" sounded like a refrain for a reason. Repetition is the most successful tactic of brainwashing.
The work is done on a subconscious level. Putin, once again, rules Russia from inside the brains.
Not seeing it is a fatal mistake for the world since everyone can be subject to brainwashing and manipulation. We already experienced it during the 2016 Presidential elections in the US. The West must pay attention and react; failure to act will turn all of us into Navalny and Russia, a nation poisoned, comatose, jailed, under house arrest and gasping for freedom.
Journalists reporting call it “the new degree of hell.” It is 2021 but it feels like Brezhnev’s era, like Josef Brodsky’s show trial. Putin should not get away with it. Biden's administration should issue sanctions against Putin's cronies, coincidentally his wallet.
Meanwhile, you can help by sharing this petition--to let the world know about this lawlessness masquerading as law.