Alexei Navalny, the main opponent of the Kremlin, already imprisoned and regularly punished in his penal colony, was sentenced to an additional nineteen years in prison after a trial for “extremism” on Friday August 4.
“Alexei Navalny received nineteen years of special treatment,” meaning imprisonment in one of the toughest facilities in the Russian prison system, usually reserved for the most dangerous criminals and lifers, wrote on X (ex-Twitter) its spokesperson Kira Iarmych.
In this new case where it was a question of “rehabilitation of Nazism”, the prosecution had requested twenty years of imprisonment for this long-time opponent of Vladimir Putin and tireless anti-corruption activist. The charismatic 47-year-old activist has been detained since June 2022 in the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers east of Moscow, after being sentenced to nine years in prison for “fraud”, in a separate case which he denounces as political revenge. The hearings were exceptionally moved to the opponent’s prison, a procedure usually reserved for seriously ill defendants, and took place behind closed doors, thus excluding journalists who wanted to attend.
The new condemnation barely known, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel deplored on X (ex-Twitter) the “last verdict of yet another sham trial”: “This arbitrary condemnation is the response to his courage to criticize the Kremlin regime”. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock denounced on the same social network a “flagrant injustice”: “Putin fears nothing more than those who oppose war, corruption and defend democracy, even since a jail cell. It will not silence critical voices. »
Mr. Navalny, who has made a name for himself in particular by his investigations into corruption within Vladimir Putin’s system and by organizing large-scale demonstrations, is now accused of having created an “extremist organization”, the Anti-Corruption Foundation ( FBK), which was closed in 2021. Before the verdict, the opponent planned, in a message published by the news site Meduza, a “Stalinist” sentence.
Prison harassment
Since his incarceration, his supporters have denounced prison harassment: Mr. Navalny has been sent to a disciplinary cell 17 times. It was in such a cell that he awaited his verdict, having once again been punished for having “misrepresented himself” to his guards, explained his lawyer Vadim Kobzev on X (Twitter).
Mr. Navalny also says he is the subject of a “terrorism” case in a separate procedure, for which he risks life in prison, but few details are known at this stage.
Since his imprisonment, the opponent has periodically continued to post messages on social networks through his lawyers and collaborators, showing a fighting spirit despite the difficulties. Days before his trial, he was still ironic about the new charges against him, publishing a copy of an alleged prosecution document that cites, among other things, an anti-Putin message in the address of a Bitcoin wallet. used for a donation to his organization in 2021.
In his last statements in July, the opponent had once again denounced the Russian offensive in Ukraine, referring to the “tens of thousands of dead in the most stupid and senseless war of the 21st century”, according to comments broadcast on his Telegram account by his collaborators. “Sooner or later [Russia] will rise again. And it is up to us to know what it will build on in the future,” he added.
In the 18th month of the offensive in Ukraine, almost all major Russian opponents have been imprisoned or driven into exile. Thousands of ordinary Russians have also been prosecuted, notably for denouncing the conflict.
