Russian court hears Navalny complaints on prison conditions

Jailed Kremlin critic accuses prison authorities of censoring his newspapers and denying him access to books.

Alexey Navalny appeared in court via video link on Wednesday for the start of hearings into complaints against the conditions at the penal colony where he is being held, with the Kremlin critic claiming authorities are limiting his access to reading materials and denying him news. The 44-year-old is currently imprisoned at a facility east of Moscow, where he is serving a two and a half year jail sentence for alleged parole violations relating to a 2014 embezzlement conviction he dismisses as fabricated. He was arrested in January upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.