A new trial against Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny opened Tuesday at penal colony where he faces another lengthy prison term, a further step in a yearlong, multi-pronged crackdown on Russia’s most ardent Kremlin critic, his allies and other dissenting voices.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s longtime foe, is charged with fraud and contempt of court. His allies denounced case as an effort by Kremlin to keep politician in prison for as long as possible.
Authorities moved trial to prison colony hours away from Moscow, where Navalny is serving a sentence for parole violations. The move received criticism for limiting access to proceedings for media and supporters.Navalny, 45, appeared in the make-shift courtroom on Tuesday wearing a prison uniform.“It is just that these people, who ordered this trial, are really scared,” he said during the hearing. “(Scared) of what I say during this trial, of people seeing that the case is obviously fabricated.”
The unusual trial got underway as world leaders are preoccupied with another round of tensions between Russia and the West fueled by fears that Russia plans to invade its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Navalny can receive up to 15 years in prison, if convicted, his allies have said, on top of the time he was ordered to serve last year.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin, accusations officials denied.
Shortly after the arrest, a court sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison over the parole violations stemming from a 2014 suspended sentence in a fraud case Navalny insists was politically motivated.
Following Navalny’s imprisonment, authorities unleashed a sweeping crackdown on his associates and supporters.His closest allies have left Russia after facing multiple criminal charges, and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of nearly 40 regional offices were outlawed as extremist — a designation that exposes people involved to prosecution.
Earlier this month, Russian officials added Navalny and a number of his associates to a state registry of extremists and terrorists. Several criminal cases have been launched against Navalny individually, leading his associates to suggest the Kremlin intends to keep the politician behind bars for as long as possible.