Confined in a glass box in a Moscow courtroom, Alexei Navalny berated the judge, mocked a prison official and sparred with the prosecutor.
He was arrested in mid-January after returning from Germany. In turns defiant, mocking, and affectionate, the 44-year trained lawyer has used the court appearances to build up his support, infuriate his opponents and craft an image as Russia’s preeminent political prisoner.
Mr. Navalny turned his February 2 hearing — when a judge ordered him jailed for nearly three years on old fraud charges — into a blistering attack on President Vladimir Putin.
Mocking the Russian leader over allegations that the Novichok nerve agent used to poison him had been placed in his underwear, Mr. Navalny told the court that Mr. Putin would “go down in history as a poisoner of underpants”.
He sparred with officials and prosecutors in court, mocking their claims that he should have turned up for parole appointments by pointing out that he was in a coma.
His making of heart signs for his wife, shortly before judge Natalya Repnikova read the sentence, was splashed across newspapers around the world.
