Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny was sentenced on Friday, August 4, 2023, to an additional 19 years behind bars on extremism charges.
Friday’s verdict marked his fifth criminal conviction and the sentence is the longest of the three he has been handed.
On the eve of Friday’s verdict, Navalny noted in a social media statement from behind bars that he expects a “Stalinist” sentence of about 18 years.
“When the figure is announced, please show solidarity with me and other political prisoners by thinking for a minute why such an exemplary huge term is necessary.”
Alexey Navalny
“Its main purpose is to intimidate. You, not me. I’ll even say this: you personally, who are reading these words,” he added.
A Russian judge delivered the guilty verdict and sentencing in the closed-door trial against Navalny at a courtroom inside the maximum-security prison camp in Melekhovo, about 145 miles east of Moscow, where the Russian opposition leader is already serving 11 1/2 years.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Authorities sentenced him to two-and-a-half years in prison and in 2022, a Russian judge added another nine years to Navalny’s sentence of 2 1/2 years
Navalny appeared before the judge wearing his prison uniform, smiling and speaking with another defendant.
It took the judge less than 10 minutes to announce the verdict and the sentence; something that in Russia usually takes hours and even days.
Navalny is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic and has exposed official corruption and organised large anti-Kremlin protests.
The latest charges related to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His allies said the charges retroactively criminalise all the foundation’s activities since its creation in 2011.
Navalny has rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and has accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life.
Earlier this year, Navalny’s team raised an alarm over his deteriorating health while in solitary confinement, saying that he has not received any treatment. They said that Navalny has been repeatedly put in solitary confinement for two-week stints for months.
Authorities Denounce Navalny’s Sentence
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, condemned the sentence as “a sinister act of political vengeance that not only targets Navalny personally but serves as a warning to state critics across the country.”
She added that the outcome of “today’s sham trial” is the latest example of the “systematic oppression of Russian civil society that has intensified since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.”
The ruling was also decried by German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock.
“Russia’s arbitrary justice system imprisoning Alexei Navalny for another 19 years is pure injustice,” she noted on social media.
“Putin fears nothing more than standing up against war and corruption and for democracy — even from a prison cell. He will not silence critical voices with this.”
Annalena Baerbock
In a statement, U.S. Department of State spokesperson, Matthew Miller labelled Navalny’s latest conviction and sentencing as “an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial.”
“For years, the Kremlin has attempted to silence Navalny and prevent his calls for transparency and accountability from reaching the Russian people.
“By conducting this latest trial in secret and limiting his lawyers’ access to purported evidence, Russian authorities illustrated yet again both the baselessness of their case and the lack of due process afforded to those who dare to criticize the regime.”
Matthew Miller
Miller added, “The United States strongly condemns Russia’s continued detention of Navalny, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and the more than 500 other designated political prisoners Russia holds.”
“We will continue to follow their cases closely and advocate for the release of all unjustly detained persons,” he concluded.
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