Russia’s Jailed Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Has Been Sentenced To Another 19 Years In Prison
Alexei Navalny, who is Russian president Vladimir Putin’s biggest critic, is already in jail, serving a total sentence of 11.5 years.
Russia’s jailed main opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to another 19 years in prison for “promoting extremism”.
Navalny, who is Russian president Vladimir Putin’s biggest critic, is already in jail, serving a total sentence of 11.5 years.
The 47-year-old was arrested in January 2021 after he returned to Moscow from Berlin.
He had traveled to Germany to receive treatment after he nearly died from being poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent, in a suspected Kremlin attack in 2020.
He was then found guilty of violating a suspended sentence for alleged embezzlement and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, which he had already served 10 months of under house arrest.
In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in a high security prison after a court found him guilty of fraud.
Prosecutors said he had embezzled money from supporters of his anti-corruption foundation.
Despite being in prison, Navalny had been writing letters from jail for his lawyers to post on social media calling on Russians to protest Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Friday Aug. 4, he was found guilty of “promoting extremism” and sentenced to another 19 years.
The closed hearing was conducted inside the penal colony where he is currently serving his sentence.
Navalny attended, but journalists and members of the public were banned from attending.
Russian media reported Navalny would be 74 by the time he got out of prison in 2050, according to Reuters.
After the verdict, Navalny tweeted that his sentence was being used to frighten the public, and urged people not to lose the will to resist.
