MOSCOW, RUSSIA — An associate of the imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced on Friday to nine years in prison, the latest episode in the Kremlin’s relentless crackdown on dissent.
Ksenia Fadeyeva, a regional lawmaker who ran the branch of Navalny’s organization in the Siberian city of Tomsk, was convicted on charges of organizing an extremist group. Her lawyers said they will appeal her ruling, alleging that Fadeyeva had disassociated herself from Navalny’s organization before authorities classified her as an extremist in 2021.
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, praised Fadeyeva as “honest and brave” and indicated in a message on X, formerly Twitter, that those who fabricated the criminal case against her will end up receiving their punishment.
Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent enemy, is serving a 19-year prison sentence for extremism. At the beginning of the month he was missing for several weeks. His lawyers announced Monday that he had been moved from a prison in central Russia to a remote colonial penal colony in the Arctic known for its harsh conditions.
The opponent has been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from poisoning with a nerve agent for which he blamed the Kremlin. Before his arrest, he campaigned against institutional corruption and organized massive protests against the Kremlin.
A Moscow court banned Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation and some 40 regional offices as extremists in June 2021, closing his political network and forcing many of his closest collaborators and team members to leave Russia. Those who remained faced judicial proceedings.
Fadeyeva’s case is the latest in a series of convictions of regional activists linked to Navalny’s work.
Lilia Chanysheva, who ran Navalny’s headquarters in the central Russian city of Ufa, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on similar charges in June, and Vadim Ostanin, who previously ran Navalny’s office in the city from Barnaul, in southern Siberia, received a 9-year prison sentence in July on charges of organizing an extremist community.
And in October, authorities detained three lawyers representing Navalny in what his associates described as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to completely isolate him.
Navalny associate Leonid Volkov has said he pressured Fadeyeva to leave Russia amid the crackdown, but she refused, citing her obligations to voters. She has been in custody since her arrest in November.
Source: AP
