This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Jailed Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny tweeted on July 5 that lyrics from popular Russian hip-hop artist Morgenshtern have been entered as evidence in his current closed-door trial in which he faces an additional three decades in prison on charges of “extremism.”
His tweets show a photo of the printed lyrics of Mongenshtern’s song Navalny Lyokha, which praises Navalny as “the best” and in which the rapper declares himself a member of the Lyokha gang. Lyokha is an affectionate shortening of Navalny’s first name.
The page of lyrics was stamped three times by court investigators and signed by the Russian prosecutor’s special investigator, indicating that the prosecution considered the song legitimate evidence of Navalny’s intent to violently overthrow President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
In response, Navalny said during the hearing that he asked his co-defendant, Daniel Kholodny, to give him a “fat beat” and that he rapped the song, seeking to highlight the absurdity of the so-called evidence. Navalny reported that the performance earned laughs from the secretary, bailiffs, and the judge.
“So that’s how my trial is going, with jokes and laughter,” Navalny tweeted. “We’ll laugh at all the nonsense the investigators stuffed into the case files, they’ll give me 15-20 years, and we’ll go our separate ways.”
Navalny and Kholodny face charges of creating an “extremist” group, making calls for “extremism,” creating a nonprofit organization that violates citizens’ rights, financing of “extremism,” involving a minor in criminal activities, and rehabilitating Nazism.
The trial is seen as another attempt by the Kremlin to silence one of its most prominent critics amid a nationwide crackdown on civil society during the unprovoked war against Ukraine.
The rap incident is not the first controversy surrounding the trial, which began on June 6. Navalny’s legal team and Kholodny, who is the technical director of the Navalny LIVE YouTube channel, initially requested the recusal of Judge Andrei Suvorov, saying the trial should be held in Moscow as they both are officially registered there, and that the trial is about allegations related to Moscow.
Suvorov rejected the motion and decided on June 19 that the trial will be held behind closed doors in a makeshift courtroom in a penal colony 260 kilometers east of Moscow.
Navalny said then that holding a closed-door trial in a maximum-security penal colony is like a “confession” by the Russian authorities.
Navalny is currently serving a combined 11 1/2-year prison sentence for prior charges. He was arrested in January 2021 upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he had been undergoing treatment for a near-fatal poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that he says was ordered by Putin.
The Kremlin has denied any role in Navalny’s poisoning, even though experts say only state actors have access to the military-grade nerve agent.
Morgenshtern also made headlines recently when a show in Kyrgyzstan was canceled for being a “bad influence” on young people. Morgenshtern was labeled a foreign agent by Russia in May 2022 after releasing music criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
