Putin foe Alexei Navalny given nine-year jail term by Russian court
22 March 2022, 14:24
The opposition leader was convicted of fraud and contempt of court.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been convicted of fraud and contempt of court and sentenced to nine years in a maximum security prison.
A Russian judge also ruled that Navalny would have to pay a fine of 1.2 million roubles (about £8,600).
Navalny is currently serving another prison sentence of two and a half years in a prison colony east of Moscow.
His associates have said the new trial was intended to keep Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s long-time foe, behind bars for as long as possible.
Navalny has rejected the charges as bogus.
He can appeal the ruling.
9 years. Well, as the characters of my favorite TV series “The Wire” used to say: “You only do two days. That's the day you go in and the day you come out"I even had a T-shirt with this slogan, but the prison authorities confiscated it, considering the print extremist.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) March 22, 2022
Navalny was accused of embezzling money that he and his foundation raised over the years, and of insulting a judge during a previous trial.
The politician has rejected the allegations as politically motivated. The prosecution had asked for 13 years in a maximum security prison for the anti-corruption crusader and a 1.2 million-rouble fine.
The trial, which opened about a month ago, unfolded in a makeshift courtroom in the prison colony hours away from Moscow where Navalny is serving a sentence for parole violations.
Navalny’s associates have criticised the authorities’ decision to move the proceedings there from a courthouse in Moscow, saying it effectively limited access to the proceedings for the media and supporters.
The 45-year-old has appeared at hearings wearing prison garb and made several elaborate speeches during the trial, decrying the charges against him as bogus.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 immediately upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months convalescing from a poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, a claim Russian officials vehemently denied.
Shortly after the arrest, a court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison over the parole violations stemming from a 2014 suspended sentence in a fraud case that Navalny insists was politically driven.
Following Navalny’s imprisonment, authorities unleashed a sweeping crackdown on his associates and supporters.
His closest allies have left Russia after facing multiple criminal charges, and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of nearly 40 regional offices were outlawed as extremist – a designation that exposes people involved to prosecution.
Last month, Russian officials added Navalny and a number of his associates to a state registry of extremists and terrorists.
Several criminal cases have been launched against Navalny individually, leading his associates to suggest the Kremlin intends to keep him behind bars for as long as possible.
