In a new trial which begins Monday, June 19, Alexei Navalny, the incarcerated opponent and pet peeve of the Kremlin, faces many years in prison for “extremism”, in a repressive climate in Russia. Since the start of the military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, most of the main opponents who have not left Russia have been imprisoned or prosecuted, mainly because of their denunciation of the conflict. Alexei Navalny, known for his anti-corruption investigations, is already serving a nine-year prison sentence for “fraud”, a conviction he considers political.
The 47-year-old opponent, who narrowly survived poisoning in 2020 that he blames on the Kremlin and has been imprisoned since January 2021, now faces up to 30 years in prison in a new trial where he is notably accused of “extremism” and for having “rehabilitated Nazi ideology”. The opponent also said he was targeted by a “terrorism” case for which he risks life in prison, but few details are known.
The trial is being held in the IK-6 super-high security penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 km east of Moscow. The contours of the prosecution are still unclear, Navalny’s defense having had only 10 days to examine the 196 volumes of the file.
“Although it is apparent, judging by the thickness of the volumes, that I am a methodical and diligent criminal, it is impossible to understand precisely what I am charged with,” Navalny recently commented wryly. The opponent accuses the Kremlin of wanting to keep him in prison for life to make him pay for his critics who have not weakened despite his imprisonment: through his team, Alexei Navalny continues to publish regularly on social networks to denounce especially the offensive in Ukraine.
Alexei Navalny “is on trial for his political activity,” one of his spokespersons, Kira Iarmych, told AFP. According to her, Monday’s hearing should be open to the public, but the judge may change his mind at the last moment in favor of a closed trial. According to his supporters, Alexeï Navalny is subjected to particularly harsh treatment in prison, where he has lost weight and where he is placed in solitary confinement at the slightest pretext.
In a message published in early June, the opponent indicated that he had been sent for the 16th time to a disciplinary cell, where the detainees are alone and in drastic living conditions. Alexei Navalny also accuses the prison administration of harassing him, for example by giving him a fellow prisoner with a viral infection and giving off a foul odor, or by forcing prisoners to listen to speeches by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Like Alexei Navalny, most known opponents who had not gone into exile have been imprisoned in recent years, especially since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. This is the case, for example, of Vladimir Kara-Mourza, sentenced in April to 25 years in prison for “high treason”, or even Ilia Iachine, sentenced in December to eight and a half years in prison for having criticized the offensive. in Ukraine
On his 47th birthday in early June, Alexeï Navalny claimed to keep his spirits up, despite the difficulties of his detention. “Clearly I’d like to not wake up in this hole, but have breakfast with my family, a kiss on the cheek from my kids, open my presents and say ‘Wow, this is exactly what I was dreaming of. “,” he wrote. But, he added, a “better future” is only possible “if a number of people are willing to pay for the right to hold beliefs.”