MADRID, 4 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United States Department of State has expressed this Friday its disapproval of the 19-year prison sentence imposed by the Russian Justice on prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalni, stressing that “it is an unfair conclusion for an unfair trial.”
The US diplomatic authorities have denounced in a statement that Navalni has been found guilty of a series of “unfounded charges” for extremism in what they consider to be another step by the Kremlin to “silence” the opponent.
“By conducting this latest trial in secret and limiting the access of his lawyers to the alleged evidence, the Russian authorities once again illustrate both the baselessness of his case and the lack of due process for those who dare to criticize the regime,” the State Department denounced.
From Washington they have recalled that Navalni was already “repeatedly” placed in confinement cells in the prison where he was being held, also denying him access to a lawyer as well as the necessary medical attention.
Thus, the US diplomatic authorities have also recalled the case of other opponents of Vladimir Putin’s regime, such as Vladimir Kara-Murza “and the more than 500 other political prisoners designated” by Moscow.
“We will closely follow their cases and advocate for the release of all those wrongfully detained. We once again join Navalni’s family, friends and supporters around the world in calling for his immediate release and an end to the continued repression of independent voices in Russia”, has settled the Department of State.
Along the same lines, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has launched a message on his official profile of the social network X –formerly known as Twitter– where he reiterates the United States’ condemnation of the sentence against Navalni.
“The United States strongly condemns Russia’s conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalni on politically motivated charges. The Kremlin cannot silence the truth. Navalni must be released,” said the top representative of US diplomacy.
The Russian Justice has sentenced Navalni to 19 years in prison this Friday for extremism, as the Moscow City Court has made known in its opinion collected by the Russian agency TASS. The opponent will serve a sentence in “a special regime colony.”
The Russian opponent was charged in June with creating an “extremist community”, inciting extremism, founding organizations that violate citizens’ rights, financing extremism, leading minors to carry out “dangerous acts” and “rehabilitating Nazism”.
Navalni, a critic of the Kremlin and President Putin, is already serving a nine-year sentence for crimes of fraud and contempt related to the collection of funds for the activities of the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK), an organization founded by himself and classified as ” extremist” by Moscow.
