Russia: Navalny’s Opponent Faces Harsh Sentence in New Court for ‘Extremism’

This is the Kremlin’s pet peeve. An imprisoned adversary of Alexei Navalny faces decades in prison in a new “extremism” trial that begins Monday with a climate of repression in Russia in the context of the conflict in Ukraine.

Since the start of the military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, most of the main opponents who did not flee Russia have been imprisoned or prosecuted, in particular for condemning the conflict. Alexei Navalny, known for his anti-corruption investigations, is already serving a nine-year sentence for “fraud,” a belief he considers political.

The 47-year-old opponent, who barely survived the 2020 poisoning he blames on the Kremlin and has been imprisoned since January 2021, now faces up to 30 years in prison in a new trial that includes charges of “extremism” and “rehabilitate Nazi ideology”.

The opponent also said that he became a defendant in the “terrorism” case, for which he faces a life sentence, but few details are known.

The trial is taking place in the strict regime colony IK-6 in Melehovo, 250 kilometers east of Moscow. The contours of the charges are still unclear, Navalny’s defense had only 10 days to study 196 volumes of the case.

“Although the thickness of the volumes shows that I am a methodical and diligent criminal, it is impossible to understand what exactly I am accused of,” Alexei Navalny recently commented with irony.

The opponent accuses the Kremlin of wanting to imprison him for life in order to make him pay for his critics, who have not weakened despite his imprisonment: through his team, he continues to post regularly on social networks, condemning, in particular, the offensive in Ukraine.

“Tried for political activity”

Alexei Navalny “is on trial for his political activities,” Kira Yarmych, one of his press secretaries, said. According to her, Monday’s hearing should be open, but the judge may change his mind at the last moment in favor of a closed process.

According to his supporters, Navalny is subjected to particularly harsh treatment in prison, where he has lost weight and where he is placed in solitary confinement for any reason.

In a message published in early June, the opponent indicated that he had been sent to the ShIZO for the 16th time, where the detainees were alone and in difficult conditions.

Navalny also accuses the administration of the colony of harassing him, such as giving him a cellmate with a viral infection and exuding an unpleasant odor, or forcing prisoners to listen to Russian President Vladimir Putin speak.