The eleventh day of the trial of Alexei Navalny has passed. He is being prepared for a 15-year prison sentence on fabricated charges.
Today, the defense continued presenting its case. In the morning, in the courtroom—or rather, in the assembly hall of the penal colony—a linguist, Yulia Safonova, a Candidate of Philological Sciences (roughly equivalent to a PhD in linguistics), was questioned. Since this is a criminal case about insulting a judge, the hearing examined just how offensive Navalny’s words were. They assessed whether there was malicious intent and what tone his language conveyed toward the court. In particular, the court analyzed Navalny’s use of the word "офигеть"—which is also included in the case materials. The philologist and linguist officially stated that it is a normal, non-offensive word and not a euphemism for some other swear word. As Navalny commented in court: "Awesome!" After the linguist’s testimony, the court began watching Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) investigations on a large screen. The prosecution had entered them into evidence. In its version of events, these are not just YouTube videos but material evidence—tools Navalny used to mislead a poor, trusting pensioner who donated money to him. In any case, watching the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s films is not only useful but enjoyable. There are worse ways to spend time in court. And it is hard not to note that the court finally screened materials from actual investigations. Unfortunately, not all the videos were shown in full. For example, the video about corruption in Tatarstan was cut off at the 17-minute mark. But the film *He Is Not Dimon to You* was shown in full. And closer to the end of the hearing, Navalny was given the chance to rewatch excerpts from *Putin’s Palace*. An excellent selection. Of course, the screening was not really organized to entertain Alexei or the bailiffs. Nor was it meant to give the judge and prosecutor a crash course on corruption. Using these videos as examples, the defense argued that the fraud charges are baseless. The prosecution insists that because of his criminal conviction, Alexei had no right to run in the election and therefore could not raise money for a campaign. But *He Is Not Dimon to You* was released before any such conviction. And another film—about Deripaska, Prikhodko, and Nastya Rybka, which was also shown in court—came out after Navalny had already been barred from the election, meaning he obviously could not have been raising money for his campaign through it. All the evidence the prosecution has added to the case proves absolutely nothing. The next stage of the trial is the questioning of Alexei himself. After that will come closing arguments, and then the verdict. Most likely, we will know it as early as next week. The last few days have shown that there is no logic and no common sense in Putin’s actions. He very much wants revenge on Navalny and has almost certainly already ordered that he be given the maximum sentence. But we must not stay silent. Otherwise, this verdict will be handed down in our name as well. Freedom for Alexei Navalny.