The 47-year-old man, already sentenced to nine years in prison for “fraud”, is on trial from this Monday, where he is accused of “extremism” and of having “rehabilitated Nazi ideology” .
Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned opponent and pet peeve of the Kremlin, faces decades in prison in a new trial, for “extremism”, which opens on Monday by illustrating the climate of repression in Russia in the context of the conflict in Ukraine.
Since the start of the military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, most major opponents who have not fled Russia have been imprisoned or prosecuted, in particular for having denounced the conflict.
Alexei Navalny, known for his anti-corruption investigations, is already serving a nine-year prison sentence for “fraud”, a conviction he considers political.
The 47-year-old opponent, who narrowly survived poisoning in 2020 that he blames on the Kremlin and has been imprisoned since January 2021, now faces up to 30 years in prison in a new trial where he is notably accused of “extremism” and to have “rehabilitated Nazi ideology”.
Ten days to prepare for the trial
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 very high security IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 km east of Moscow. The contours of the prosecution are still unclear, Navalny’s defense having had only 10 days to examine the 196 volumes of the file.
“Although it is clear, 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 Alexei 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, Alexeï Navalny continues to publish regularly on social networks to denounce especially the offensive in Ukraine.
In a message published in early June, the opponent indicated that he had been sent for the 16th time to a disciplinary cell, where the detainees are alone and in drastic living conditions.
Source: BFM TV
