MOSCOW: Alexei Nava­lny’s political network said on Thursday it is disbanding, as the jailed Kremlin critic appeared in court, gaunt and shaven headed, for the first time since ending his hunger strike.

During the hearing, which is part of an appeal by Navalny against a defamation sentence imposed in February for insulting a World War II veteran, President Vladimir Putin’s best known domestic opponent said he had started eating again.

“I was taken to a bathhouse yesterday... there was a mirror there, I looked at myself — I am just a horrible skeleton,” Navalny told the court, according to transcript published on his blog.

“I haven’t been this weight since seventh grade,” he added, telling his wife Yulia who was in court that he is now allowed a couple spoonfuls of porridge a day.

The judge later rejected Navalny’s appeal, upholding a fine of 850,000 rubles ($11,440).

Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova told reporters that his defence team plans to contest the decision in Russia and at the European Court of Human Rights.

“You are all traitors, you together with your naked king,” Navalny told the court in his final statement.

Another court held a hearing on Thursday into a request from prosecutors that Navalny’s regional network and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) both be recognised as extremist, equating the organisations with the militant Islamic State group and Al Qaeda.

If the request is met, their activities would be banned, putting members and supporters at risk of lengthy jail time. The hearings are set to resume on May 17.

The head of the regional network, Leonid Volkov, however, said he was “officially disbanding Navalny’s network”.

He added that some of the offices would continue their activities as independent, political organisations.

Prosecutors this week ordered the network to suspend its activities ahead of the ruling and a court imposed sweeping bans on the FBK.

FBK was launched in 2011 and routinely releases investigations into alleged corruption by officials at all levels of government, often accompanied by YouTube videos.

The regional network was founded during Navalny’s presidential campaign in 2018, although the opposition figure was barred from running.

It later supported his graft investigations as well as the Smart Voting strategy, which directs people to vote for candidates best placed to defeat Kremlin-linked opponents.

Navalny was arrested in January after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had spent months recovering from a poisoning attack that he says was orchestrated by Putin.

Authorities have increased pressure against Navalny’s supporters since his return, with many top aides having left the country or been placed under house arrest.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2021