NAVALNY APPEARS IN COURT; BLASTS PUTIN AS ‘EMPEROR WITH NO CLOTHES’

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared by video link at an appeals hearing on Thursday with his head shaved and looking gaunt after ending his hunger strike, Christian Thiele and Ulf Mauder reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

The hearing was connected to his attempt to overturn the conviction and fines he received in February for allegedly defaming a World War II veteran. As expected, the court on Thursday upheld the ruling, meaning Navalny must pay the fines totaling 850,000 rubles ($11,400), which is about twice the average annual salary in Russia.

His lawyers announced they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Navalny joined the hearing by video from the prison camp where he has been held for almost 100 days.

Late last week the 44-year-old called off a weeks-long hunger strike he had been on, following advice from his doctors who feared for his life. Live images from the courtroom's television monitors showed Navalny looking emaciated and with a shaved head.

His wife Yulia was sitting in the courtroom for the hearing.

In his remarks, Navalny displayed his usual irony, this time by referring to the "The Emperor's New Clothes" fairy tale. He mocked President Vladimir Putin as an "emperor" with no clothes.

"The naked emperor wants to rule until the end; he has clung to power," Navalny said, according to a report by the independent Dozhd internet channel. If Putin continues to rule, he said, a stolen decade will be added to an already "lost decade." He added: "I would like to say, my dear court, that your emperor is naked. And it is not just a little boy shouting this around, that the emperor is naked."

Twenty years of incompetent leadership led to this result, Navalny said: "There is a crown that slips over the ears. There are tons of lies on television. And there is, of course, huge personal wealth."

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