Russia: Alexei Navalny faces heavy sentence in new trial
The new trial for “extremism” which opens today against Alexeï Navalny, pet peeve of the Kremlin illustrates the climate of repression in Russia. Since the invasion of Ukraine, most of the major opponents who have not fled Russia have been imprisoned or prosecuted, in particular for having denounced the conflict.
Mr Navalny, known for his anti-corruption investigations, is already serving a nine-year prison sentence for ” fraud “, a condemnation that he considers political. The 47-year-old opponent, who narrowly survived poisoning in 2020 that he blames on the Kremlin and who has been imprisoned since January 2021, now faces up to thirty years in prison in a new trial in which he is notably accused of “extremism” and of having “rehabilitated Nazi ideology”. The opponent also said he was targeted by a “terrorism” case for which he risks life in prison, but few details are known.
The trial is being held in the super-high security IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers east of Moscow. The contours of the prosecution are still unclear, Navalny’s defense having only had ten days to examine the 196 volumes of the file. “Although it is obvious, judging by the thickness of the volumes, that I am a methodical and diligent criminal, it is impossible to understand precisely what I am accused of”recently commented Mr. Navalny with irony.
The opponent accuses the Kremlin of wanting to keep him in prison for life to make him pay for his critics who have not weakened despite his imprisonment: through his team, Mr. Navalny continues to publish regularly on social networks to denounce in particular the offensive in Ukraine. According to one of his spokespersons, Kira Iarmych, Monday’s hearing should be open to the public, but the judge may change his mind at the last moment in favor of a closed trial.
According to his supporters, Mr. Navalny is subjected to particularly harsh treatment in prison, where he has lost weight and where he is placed in solitary confinement on the slightest pretext. In a message published in early June, the opponent indicated that he had been sent for the sixteenth time to a disciplinary cell, where the detainees are alone and in drastic living conditions. Mr. Navalny also accuses the prison administration of harassing him, for example by giving him a fellow prisoner with a viral infection and giving off a foul odor, or by forcing prisoners to listen to speeches by Russian President Vladimir Putin.