Russia on Friday handed jailed opposition chief Alexei Navalny 19 years behind bars on extremism expenses in what he mentioned was a Kremlin bid to deprive bizarre individuals of “the need to withstand”.
The heavy sentence towards Navalny, who had mobilised the biggest protests towards President Vladimir Putin, comes amid a historic crackdown on dissenting voices as Moscow’s assault on Ukraine stretches into its second yr.
In a press release posted on Fb, Navalny, who was sentenced to 19 years at a “particular regime” penal colony, urged Russians to maintain up the struggle.
“They wish to frighten you, not me, and deprive you of the need to withstand,” he mentioned.
“You’re being compelled to give up your Russia with out a struggle to a gang of traitors, thieves and scoundrels who’ve seized energy.
“Do not lose the need to withstand.”
Particular regime penal colonies are jails with the strictest situations of imprisonment reserved for Russia’s worst criminals together with terrorists and serial killers.
AFP journalists watching the courtroom session in a press centre at Navalny’s jail mentioned the 47-year-old appeared emaciated however relaxed.
He smiled because the choose learn the decision and hugged one other defendant earlier than the grainy transmission reduce.
A masked regulation enforcement officer in gray camouflage gear and flak jacket stood in entrance of the viewers room.
– Behind closed doorways –
The trial has been held behind closed doorways on the IK-6 penal colony, a maximum-security jail some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow, the place Navalny is jailed.
Just a few dozen individuals travelled to Melekhovo to help the jailed opposition chief.
One of many supporters, Denis, mentioned the cruel verdict didn’t shock him.
“It was apparent given our justice system,” mentioned the 36-year-old engineer from Moscow, who declined to offer his final identify.
He known as Navalny a “image of the truth that we have now a special future, we have now a special path”.
Navalny is already serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security jail for “embezzlement”, a cost his supporters say was trumped up in retaliation for difficult Putin.
This was the primary formally political case towards the opposition chief, his workforce has mentioned.
America known as Navalny’s sentencing “an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial.”
Germany slammed the ruling as “pure injustice”, the EU’s chief denounced the decision as “unacceptable”, and the UN rights chief urged Russia to launch the jailed opposition politician “instantly”.
Britain too known as for Navalny’s speedy launch.
– ‘Attempting to intimidate’ –
Navalny had mentioned on Thursday he anticipated the courtroom handy him a prolonged, “Stalinist” jail sentence.
“Please take into account and realise that by jailing lots of, Putin is making an attempt to intimidate thousands and thousands,” he mentioned.
Navalny has constructed an enormous following on social media, the place he has posted movies exposing alleged corruption amongst Russia’s elite and mobilised large anti-government protests.
Prosecutors mentioned that Navalny created an organisation that undermined public safety by finishing up “extremist actions”.
His Anti-Corruption Basis, which investigates graft amongst Russian officers, was banned for extremism in 2021.
Most of his shut allies have fled the nation.
Since launching full-scale hostilities towards Ukraine final yr, Moscow has ramped up its crackdown on critics, pushing high members of the nation’s beleaguered opposition overseas.
Navalny’s final days earlier than the decision had been spent in a punishment cell the place he has been repeatedly despatched for minor infringements of jail guidelines, in response to his workforce.
He was arrested in 2021 after arriving in Moscow from Germany, the place he had been recovering from a poisoning assault he blames on the Kremlin, one which sparked worldwide condemnation.
– Extreme penal colony –
Navalny mentioned jail officers had compelled him to share a cell with a sickly inmate and subjected him and different prisoners to “torture by Putin”, making them take heed to the Russian president’s speeches.
He has additionally complained of well being issues and main weight reduction since being jailed.
In April, Navalny mentioned he could possibly be individually judged over terrorism expenses and face life in jail.
His marketing campaign places of work across the nation had been declared extremist organisations in 2021 by authorities, placing staff, volunteers and supporters at larger threat of prosecution.
Over the summer time two heads of regional places of work, Lilia Chanysheva and Vadim Ostanin, had been sentenced to seven-and-a-half and 9 years respectively on extremism expenses.
Hundreds of Russians have been detained for protesting Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. A few of the highest-profile activists together with Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin at the moment are behind bars.
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