Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny attends a rally to mark the 5th anniversary of the assassination of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and to protest against proposed changes to the country’s constitution February 29, 2020 in Moscow, Russia. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
- Prosecutors are seeking an extension of Navalny’s prison sentence
- His opposition network is already banned in Russia
- Prosecutors are asking for another 13 years
- Navalny has called on the Russians to protest against the election campaign in Ukraine
March 22 – A Russian court on Tuesday found jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny guilty of large-scale fraud, a move likely to result in the time the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin being jailed spends in prison extended by years.
Navalny is already serving two and a half sentences in a prison camp east of Moscow for parole violations related to charges he says were fabricated to thwart his political ambitions.
In the most recent criminal case against him, which he has also dismissed as politically motivated, he could have up to 13 years added to that sentence.
A scrawny Navalny stood next to his lawyers in a room full of prison guards while the judge read out the charges against him. The 45-year-old appeared unimpressed, looking down while flipping through court documents.
Prosecutors had asked the court to send him to a maximum-security penal colony for 13 years on charges of fraud and contempt of court. A verdict is expected later on Tuesday.
Navalny was jailed last year while returning to Russia after receiving medical treatment in Germany following a poisoning attack with a Soviet-era nerve agent during a visit to Siberia in 2020. Navalny blamed Putin for the attack.
The Kremlin said it saw no evidence Navalny was poisoned and denied any Russian role if that was the case.
After the final hearing in his case on March 15, Navalny struck a typically defiant tone, writing via Instagram, “If prison is the price of my human right to say things that need to be said… then you can ask for 113 years.” . I will not renounce my words or my actions.” Read more
Russian authorities have described Navalny and his supporters as subversives determined to destabilize Russia with Western support. Many of Navalny’s allies have fled Russia rather than face restrictions or jail at home.
Navalny’s opposition movement has been labeled “extremist” and shut down, although his supporters continue to express their political stance, including their opposition to Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, on social media.
Letters from Kevin Liffey/Reuters reporters; Edited by Reuters editor