Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny convicted of extremism and sentenced to 19 years in prison

Navalny is already serving a nine-year time period on quite a lot of fees that he says had been politically motivated.

The new fees towards the politician associated to the actions of Navalny’s anti-corruption basis and statements by his high associates.

It was his fifth prison conviction, all of which his supporters see as a deliberate Kremlin technique to silence its most ardent opponent.

The prosecution had demanded a 20-year jail sentence, and the politician himself mentioned beforehand that he anticipated to obtain a prolonged time period.

Navalny is already serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of courtroom. He additionally was sentenced in 2021 to 2 and a half years in jail for a parole violation. The extremism trial happened behind closed doorways within the penal colony east of Moscow the place he’s imprisoned.

Navalny appeared within the courtroom on Friday afternoon, sporting jail garb and searching gaunt, however with a defiant smile on his face.

As the choose learn out the decision, the politician stood alongside his attorneys and his co-defendant along with his arms crossed, listening with a severe expression on his face.

Navalny’s allies mentioned the extremism fees retroactively criminalised the entire anti-corruption basis’s actions since its creation in 2011.

In 2021, Russian authorities outlawed the inspiration and the huge community of Navalny’s workplaces in Russian areas as extremist organisations, exposing anybody concerned to attainable prosecution.

One of Navalny’s associates, Daniel Kholodny, stood trial alongside him after being relocated from a unique jail. The prosecution requested a 10-year jail sentence for Kholodny to 10 years in jail.

Navalny rejected all the costs towards him as politically motivated and accused the Kremlin of in search of to maintain him behind bars for all times.

On the eve of the decision listening to, Navalny launched an announcement on social media, presumably by his staff, wherein he mentioned he anticipated his newest sentence to be “huge … a Stalinist term,” referring to the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

In the assertion, Navalny referred to as on Russians to “personally” resist and inspired them to assist political prisoners, distribute flyers or go to a rally. He advised Russians that they may select a secure means to withstand, however he added that “there is shame in doing nothing. It’s shameful to let yourself be intimidated.”

The politician is at the moment serving his sentence in a maximum-security jail — Penal Colony No. 6 within the city of Melekhovo, about 230 kilometres east of Moscow.

He has spent months in a tiny one-person cell, additionally referred to as a “punishment cell,” for purported disciplinary violations, resembling an alleged failure to correctly button his jail garments, appropriately introduce himself to a guard or to clean his face at a specified time.

On social media, Navalny’s associates have urged supporters to return to Melekhovo on Friday to precise solidarity with the politician.

About 40 supporters from completely different Russian cities gathered exterior the colony in Melekhovo on Friday, one in every of them advised The Associated Press within the messaging app Telegram.

Yelena, who spoke given that her final identify is withheld for security causes, mentioned the supporters weren’t allowed into the colony, however determined to remain exterior till the decision as introduced: “People think it’s important to be nearby at least like that, for moral support. We will be waiting.”

The prosecution requested the courtroom to order the politician to serve any new jail time period in a “special regime” penal colony, a time period that refers back to the Russian prisons with the very best degree of safety and the harshest inmate restrictions.

Russian legislation stipulates that solely males given life sentences or “especially dangerous recidivists” are despatched to these forms of prisons.

The nation has many fewer “special regime” colonies in comparison with different forms of grownup prisons, based on state penitentiary service information: 35 colonies for “dangerous recidivists” and 6 for males imprisoned for all times.

Maximum-security colonies are essentially the most widespread kind, with 251 at the moment in operation.