Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to another prison term. A Moscow court on Friday sentenced him to 19 more years in prison for alleged extremism, according to supporters of Navalny. This extends the prison sentence of the Kremlin critic, who was sentenced to nine years in a prison camp in 2021. Prosecutors had asked for 20 years in prison.
The trial was classified as secret and took place in the Melekhovo penal camp, about 250 kilometers from Moscow.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbpock reacted promptly to the verdict – with sharp criticism. She describes the judge’s verdict as “blatant injustice”. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not use this to silence critical voices, she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Navalny himself, as well as international observers, assumed that the sentence would be severe. The new verdict against him serves to intimidate society, Navalny wrote before the announcement. It should prevent critical parts of the Russian population from publicly opposing Putin and Russia’s war in Ukraine. In his closing remarks two weeks ago, the opposition politician called for a fight against “the unscrupulous evil that calls itself the ‘state power of the Russian Federation'”.
In addition to Navalny, there are other political prisoners
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has drastically tightened its stance against government critics. In addition to Navalny, there are numerous other political prisoners, such as Vladimir Kara-Mursa. In April he was sentenced to 25 years in a prison camp for his criticism of the war – the longest prison term ever for a government critic in Russia. Last Monday, Kara-Mursa’s appeal was denied.
Like Navalny, Kara-Mursa is in poor health. The two opposition members each survived poison attacks: Kara-Mursa was poisoned in 2015 and 2017, Navalny in 2020. Navalny accuses the Russian domestic secret service FSB and President Vladimir Putin of being behind the attack. The Kremlin denies that. After treatment in Germany, Navalny returned to his homeland. He was arrested at the airport – allegedly because he is said to have violated probation conditions from another trial. In March 2022, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for alleged embezzlement and insult to a judge. Observers consider it unlikely that Navalny will be released under a Putin government.