A smiling and joking Alexei Navalny has appeared in court via video link from the Arctic penal colony where he is serving a 19-year sentence. It's the first time the Russian opposition leader has been shown on camera since his transfer to the remote prison last month. Russian media released video of Navalny in black prison garb and a buzz cut joking about the Arctic weather and saying conditions were better there than at his old prison. The video came during a hearing in a courtroom in the Vladimir region in central Russia on a lawsuit he filed against prison officials at a penal colony near there before his transfer. Navalny alleges he was punished for bogus reasons.
