The new charges are related to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements made by those close to him. It is his fifth criminal conviction, and all are considered by his supporters as a strategy by the Kremlin to silence him.
At the moment it is unknown if he will have to serve this new sentence at the same time as the current one for charges of fraud and contempt of court. The prosecution had asked for a sentence of 20 years in prison, and Navalny himself had predicted that he would receive a long sentence.
Navalny was also sentenced in 2021 to two and a half years in jail for violating his probation. The extremism trial took place behind closed doors in a penal colony east of Moscow, where the opposition leader is being held.
Navalny appeared in court on Friday afternoon, wearing a prison uniform and looking haggard, but with a defiant smile. As the judge read the verdict, he stood with his lawyers and co-defendants, arms folded and listening with a serious expression on his face.
Navalny, 47, is President Vladimir Putin’s staunchest rival and has exposed cases of government corruption and organized mass protests against the Kremlin. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recovering in Germany from an attempt to poison him that he attributes to the Kremlin.
Navalny’s allies say the extremism charges retroactively criminalize all of the foundation’s anti-corruption activities since it was created in 2011. In 2021, Russian authorities outlawed the foundation and Navalny’s extensive network of offices in various regions of Russia, declaring them extremist organizations, and placing all associated with them at risk of arrest and prosecution.
One of Navalny’s close associates, Daniel Kholodny, was tried along with him after being transferred from another prison. The prosecution requested 10 years in prison for him, although it is unknown what sentence was imposed on Kholodny
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Associated Press writer Dasha Litvinova contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
