MOSCOW: Top opposition leader Alexei Navalny triumphantly returned home to Russia’s capital on Saturday after his unexpected release from prison, saying he would push ahead with a bid to become Moscow mayor.
The chief opponent of President Vladimir Putin stepped off an overnight train from the provincial city of Kirov with his wife Yulia to a crowd of hundreds of supporters chanting his name as dozens of riot police stood watch.
“We are going to run and we will win,” Navalny said through a megaphone to roars of approval from the crowd, many of whom clutched flowers and wore white T-shirts reading “Navalny” or “Navalny’s brother.”
“Ahead of us is a big, difficult electoral campaign. Seven weeks of non-stop work and it’s just the start,” he said.
Navalny was suddenly released Friday pending an appeal of his five-year sentence on fraud charges and has about a month to campaign, but it is unclear whether he will have enough time to actually participate in the Sept. 8 ballot.
The guilty verdict disqualifies Navalny from politics, and the restriction will come into force if or when the verdict is upheld on appeal.
Although opinion polls say Navalny has almost no chance of beating the incumbent pro-Kremlin mayor in the ballot, observers say campaigning for the high-profile post will boost the charismatic leader’s popularity.
“Let’s fight for political power in the country,” he said, pumping his fist in the air and leading the crowd in a chant of “We are the power” before fans hoisted him on their shoulders.
Navalny’s conviction and sentencing to five years in a penal colony by a Kirov court on Thursday sparked protests in Moscow and Saint Petersburg from supporters of the charismatic 37-year-old who led unprecedented demonstrations against Putin in 2011-12.
In an unexpected move less than a day after his sentencing, a higher court in the sleepy industrial city 900 kilometers (560 miles) northeast of Moscow released Navalny from jail pending the appeal.
The court ruled that keeping the father of two behind bars would “limit his right to be elected” in the Moscow mayoral polls, for which he had already registered as a candidate.
Many observers described the surprise release as a sign of infighting among the country’s ruling elite and uncertainty about how to handle Putin’s popular opponent.
Some analysts have said the jailing of a high-profile Moscow mayoral candidate during the campaign was a huge embarrassment for the authorities.
Navalny vows to push ahead with Moscow mayor bid
