Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny sentenced to 19 years in prison

• Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny, a outstanding political opponent of President Vladimir Putin, has been sentenced to 19 years in jail on extremism expenses.
• Navalny is at present serving a separate nine-year sentence on different expenses he claims are politically motivated.
• The decision and Navalny’s sentence have been reportedly determined after lower than 10 minutes of deliberation.

A Russian court convicted imprisoned opposition chief Alexei Navalny on expenses of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in jail on Friday. Navalny is already serving a nine-year time period on a wide range of expenses that he says have been politically motivated.

The brand new expenses are associated to the actions of Navalny’s anti-corruption basis and statements by his prime associates. It was his fifth prison conviction and his third and longest jail time period — all of which his supporters see as a deliberate Kremlin technique to silence its most ardent opponent.

Russian state information companies mentioned he would serve this new time period concurrently along with his present sentence on expenses of fraud and contempt of courtroom. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh informed The Related Press it is the almost definitely state of affairs however that his crew has not seen the textual content of the decision but.

RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEI NAVALNY EXPECTS LENGTHY SENTENCE IN EXTREMISM TRIAL

The prosecution had demanded a 20-year jail sentence, and Navalny mentioned beforehand that he anticipated to obtain a prolonged time period.

He was additionally sentenced in 2021 to 2 and a half years in jail for a parole violation. The extremism trial happened behind closed doorways within the penal colony east of Moscow the place Navalny is imprisoned.

Navalny appeared within the courtroom sporting jail garb and searching gaunt, however with a defiant smile on his face. Because the decide learn out the decision, the politician stood alongside his attorneys and his co-defendant along with his arms crossed, listening with a severe expression on his face.

It took the decide lower than 10 minutes to announce the decision and the sentence — one thing that in Russia often takes hours and even days. The listening to was broadcast to reporters in a separate room, however the decide’s speech was barely audible.

Navalny commented on the sentence in a social media put up, presumably relayed by his crew, saying that “the quantity doesn’t matter.”

“I perceive completely that, as many political prisoners, I’m serving a life sentence, which is measured by the size of my life or the size of lifetime of this regime,” Navalny mentioned, urging his supporters “to not lose the desire to withstand” within the wake of his sentence.

Yarmysh confirmed the decision to the AP, including that Navalny was additionally ordered to pay a high-quality of 500,000 rubles (about $5,200). She mentioned that Navalny feels optimistic regardless of the tough sentence, and “completely believes in what he’s doing,” including that “it definitely helps him deal with all that and hold doing what he’s doing.”

The U.S. State Department condemned Navalny’s new sentence as “an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial” and referred to as for his instant launch.

“For years, the Kremlin has tried to silence Navalny and forestall his requires transparency and accountability from reaching the Russian folks,” it mentioned. “By conducting this newest trial in secret and limiting his attorneys’ entry to purported proof, Russian authorities illustrated but once more each the baselessness of their case and the dearth of due course of afforded to those that dare to criticize the regime.”

The 47-year-old Navalny is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe and has uncovered official corruption and arranged main anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Alexei Navalny, second from left, seems throughout a listening to by way of video convention, Melekhovo, Russia, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. (AP Photograph/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Navalny’s allies mentioned the extremism expenses retroactively criminalized the entire anti-corruption basis’s actions since its creation in 2011. In 2021, Russian authorities outlawed the inspiration and the huge community of Navalny’s workplaces in Russian areas as extremist organizations, exposing anybody concerned to potential prosecution.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk mentioned Navalny’s new sentence “raises renewed severe issues about judicial harassment and instrumentalisation of the courtroom system for political functions in Russia” and referred to as for his launch.

Certainly one of Navalny’s associates, Daniel Kholodny, stood trial alongside him after being relocated from a unique jail. His lawyer informed the impartial Novaya Gazeta newspaper that Kholodny was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Navalny rejected all the fees in opposition to him as politically motivated and accused the Kremlin of looking for to maintain him behind bars for all times.

On the eve of the decision listening to, Navalny launched a press release on social media, presumably by his crew, by which he mentioned he anticipated his newest sentence to be “big … a Stalinist time period.” Below the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, tens of millions of individuals have been branded “enemies of the state,” jailed and generally executed in what turned referred to as the “Nice Terror.”

In his assertion, Navalny referred to as on Russians to “personally” resist and inspired them to help political prisoners, distribute flyers or go to a rally. He informed Russians that they may select a protected method to withstand, however he added that “there may be disgrace in doing nothing. It’s shameful to let your self be intimidated.”

The politician is at present serving his sentence in a maximum-security jail — Penal Colony No. 6 within the city of Melekhovo, about 230 kilometers (greater than 140 miles) east of Moscow.

He has spent months in a tiny one-person cell, additionally referred to as a “punishment cell,” for purported disciplinary violations, corresponding to an alleged failure to button his jail garments correctly, introduce himself appropriately to a guard or to scrub his face at a specified time.

Yarmysh mentioned that jail officers as soon as once more positioned Navalny within the punishment cell proper after his closing arguments in late July, and that he was launched from it solely on Friday for the decision listening to.

On social media, Navalny’s associates urged supporters to return to Melekhovo on Friday to specific solidarity with the politician.

About 40 supporters from totally different Russian cities gathered outdoors the colony, one in every of them informed the AP within the messaging app Telegram. Yelena, who spoke provided that her final identify was withheld for security causes, mentioned the supporters weren’t allowed into the colony, however determined to remain outdoors till the decision as introduced: “Individuals suppose it is vital to be close by no less than like that, for ethical help. We shall be ready.”

PUTIN CRITIC AND OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEI NAVALNY FOUND GUILTY BY RUSSIAN COURT

Navalny was ordered to serve the brand new jail time period in a “particular regime” penal colony, a time period that refers back to the Russian prisons with the very best stage of safety and the harshest inmate restrictions.

It wasn’t instantly clear when he could be transferred to such a colony from the Melekhovo jail. Yarmysh mentioned Navalny’s attorneys will certainly enchantment the decision, so it won’t take impact till the enchantment is dominated on.

Russian regulation stipulates that solely males given life sentences or “particularly harmful recidivists” are despatched to these forms of prisons.

The nation has many fewer “particular regime” colonies in comparison with different forms of grownup prisons, in accordance with state penitentiary service information: 35 colonies for “harmful recidivists” and 6 for males imprisoned for all times. Most-security colonies are probably the most widespread sort, with 251 at present in operation.

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Nonetheless, Navalny is “all the time on this optimistic spirit,” Yarmysh mentioned. “It appears to me that he’s most likely the most important optimist amongst all of us,” she added. “This occurs as a result of Alexei is completely satisfied in what he is doing and assured that he’s proper. This, in fact, helps him deal with the whole lot and proceed doing what he does.”