Alexey Navalny, who was the most prominent opponent of Vladimir Putun’s government, was sentenced this Friday to an additional 19 years in prison on charges of extremism.
The guilty verdict and sentencing behind closed doors came in a courtroom at the maximum-security prison camp in Melekhovo, some 145 miles east of Moscow, where Navalny has already been behind bars for 11 1/2 years.
Meanwhile, Russian prosecutors have sought a 20-year jail term in the recent case.which is related to charges against the Putin regime.
In this way, it has been the fifth criminal sentence that has weighed on Navalny, Putin’s most renowned critic, and the longest sentence so far.
In response, the United States called for Navalny’s immediate release, describing his latest conviction as “an unfair conclusion in an unfair trial.”State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“By conducting this latest trial in secret and limiting his lawyers’ access to the alleged evidence, the Russian authorities once again illustrated both the baselessness of his case and the lack of due process for those who dare to criticize. to the regime,” said Miller, who added that the United States condemns the arrest of Navalny, and the more than 500 political prisoners that Russia has.
Navalny has been behind bars since 2021, returning to Russia after recovering in Germany from poisoning. In 2022, a judge added another nine years to Navalny’s sentence, which was originally 2 1/2 years for embezzlement, among other charges.
Navalny’s team warned about the deterioration of his health while they were in solitary confinement, denouncing that there was no treatment, and he was placed in solitary confinement for months for divided periods of two weeks.
“When the number is announced, show solidarity with me and other political prisoners by thinking for a minute why such an exemplary term is necessary,” Navalny wrote in various posts on the eve of the verdict. “Their main goal is to intimidate. You not me. I will even say this: you personally, who are reading these words.”
Regarding the war with Ukraine, Navalny condemned the events in a statement on July 20and assured that the invasion “does not make sense.”
“(Russia) is teetering in a pool of mud or blood, with broken bones, with a poor and robbed population, and around it lie tens of thousands of people killed in the most senseless and stupid war of the 21st century,” he declared.
With information from ABC 7
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