Trial of Putin critics
The court sentenced Navalny to another nine years in prison
Putin opponent Alexei Navalny is already serving several years in prison in a prison camp in Pokrov, around 100 kilometers east of Moscow. Photo: Evgeny Feldman/Meduza/AP/dpa
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The Kremlin critic, who has already been imprisoned, is to serve the new prison sentence under particularly harsh conditions. The case against Navalny is considered politically motivated.
In another controversial trial against the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, a Russian court sentenced the 45-year-old to nine years in a prison camp under particularly harsh prison conditions.
In addition, the opposition figure, who is considered the most well-known opponent of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, is to pay a fine of 1.2 million rubles, according to the Interfax agency. This corresponds to about 8200 euros.
In the process, which was criticized as a political staging, the judge Navalny found himself guilty of, among other things, fraud on a particularly large scale. According to judge Margarita Kotowa, the accused stole the property of strangers “by deception and abuse of trust”.
Team: Navalny should be silenced
The Kremlin opponent’s team sees the actions of the Russian judiciary as another attempt to silence Navalny. It is a process controlled by Putin and the presidential administration in Moscow, said the spokeswoman for the opposition, Kira Jarmysch. “First he (Putin) tried to kill Alexei and when that failed he decided to keep him in prison forever.”
The father of two had to answer this time for alleged misappropriation of funds for his anti-corruption foundation, which is now banned in Russia, and for insulting a judge in an earlier trial. According to his team, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
The Kremlin opponent barely survived an assassination attempt with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in August 2020. President Putin rejected participation. The EU had imposed sanctions on Russia for the attack.
Navalny returned to Russia more than a year ago after recovering in Germany, where then Chancellor Angela Merkel had visited him at the Charité in Berlin. He was arrested on January 17, 2021 at Moscow Airport for allegedly violating conditions in another criminal case.
Spokeswoman fears camps far from Moscow
The Russian judiciary had accused him of violating reporting requirements at home while he was recovering in Germany. A court then converted a suspended sentence from an earlier trial for alleged fraud to imprisonment in a prison camp. He is serving the several-year prison sentence in a penal camp in Pokrov, around 100 kilometers east of Moscow.
Navalny’s spokeswoman Jarmysch fears that he could now be classified as a “repeat offender” and taken to a camp with harsher prison conditions much further away from Moscow. “It will then be practically impossible to have access and contact with him,” said Jarmysch.
So far, the politician has repeatedly managed to get messages out to the public through his lawyers. Recently, Navalny’s calls for protests against Putin’s war against Ukraine were also spread on social networks.