The jailing of Alexei Navalny may yet prove a turning point in Vladimir Putin’s presidency — not just because of the mere fact of his imprisonment, but because of the power of his words in the courtroom. In a scathingly dignified statement, the activist argued his court appearance had little to do with his alleged violations of parole linked to a 2014 fraud conviction (which the European Court of Human Rights called “arbitrary and unreasonable”). It was because he had survived a plot to poison him, investigated it, and tied it convincingly to Russia’s security services. “The explanation is one man’s hatred and fear — one man hiding in a bunker,” he said of Russia’s president.
阿列克谢•纳瓦尔尼(Alexei Navalny)被判入狱最终可能被证明是弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)总统任期的一个转折点——不仅是因为他被监禁这个事实，还因为他在法庭上雄辩的力量。这位活动人士在一份犀利而有尊严的法庭陈词中主张，他出庭受审与他涉嫌违反2014年一宗欺诈定罪——欧洲人权法院(European Court of Human Rights)称那宗定罪是“专断和不合理的”——的假释条件没什么关系，而是因为他从一起毒杀阴谋中生存下来，然后对这件事进行调查，最后令人信服地将其与俄罗斯安全部门联系起来。“（这一切的）解释就是某人的仇恨和恐惧——一个躲在地堡中的人，”他在提到俄罗斯总统时表示。