The verdict against Alexei Navalny is due on Tuesday. The 45-year-old has to answer for alleged misappropriation of funds in the controversial proceedings.
Activists from the human rights organization Amnesty International protest in Brussels in January for the release of Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
(dpa) In the controversial trial against the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, the court wants to pronounce the verdict at 8 a.m. CET. The trial will take place in Pokrov prison. The public prosecutor’s office has applied for 13 years in prison in the case against the best-known opponent of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, which has been criticized as a political staging. Navalny’s lawyers are demanding acquittal in the trial for alleged fraud.
Navalny is currently serving a prison sentence from previous criminal proceedings.
This time, the 45-year-old has to answer 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.
Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch said that Putin was taking revenge on Navalny “after he failed to kill him”. The Kremlin opponent barely survived an assassination attempt with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in August 2020. The President denied involvement. The EU had imposed sanctions on Russia for the attack.