Alexei Navalny sentenced to 19 years in special regime

The Moscow City Court (Russia) sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 19 years of special regime in the case of creating an extremist community and several other charges. The meeting was held in a strict regime colony in the Vladimir region, where the politician is already serving a nine-year sentence in a fraud case. Writes about it Radio Liberty.

Photo: IStock

Journalists who were present at the announcement of the verdict in the colony were able to hear the broadcast from the courtroom, but the sound quality was so low that the exact term assigned to Navalny could not be made out. The son and parents of the politician - Lyudmila and Anatoly Navalny - also could not hear the verdict, as they were taken to a separate room with a video broadcast, where the sound was indistinct.

Media outlets, including Russian state-run TASS and RIA Novosti, reported 19 years in a special regime colony, but no official information from the Moscow City Court was released.

For a long time, it remained unknown what sentence was given to the second defendant in this case, the former technical director of Navalny LIVE, Daniel Kholodny. Later, Novaya Gazeta.Europe, citing Kholodny’s lawyer, reported that he was sentenced to eight years in a general regime colony.

The Russian authorities consider the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by Navalny and the regional headquarters of his supporters to be an extremist community.

Navalny was found guilty under other articles of the Criminal Code, including public calls for extremism, the rehabilitation of Nazism, the involvement of minors in dangerous activities, the creation of a non-profit organization that violates the rights of citizens, and the financing of extremism.

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The special regime in the colonies provides for the most stringent conditions of detention, comparable to those applied to prisoners sentenced to life.

Prisoners are under increased control, windows and doors can be surrounded by double bars, and movement is possible in a half-bent state. Correspondence and visits are seriously limited. If Navalny is transferred to a strict regime of special detention, he will be allowed only one long visit a year.

Daniel Kholodny, the former technical director of the Navalny LIVE channel, was sent to a penal colony, but the exact date was not heard due to the poor sound quality of the broadcast. The prosecutor asked for 10 years in prison for him.

A day before the final court session, Navalny's associates published his appeal on social networks. In it, Navalny acknowledged that he would be sentenced to a long prison term, but urged his supporters not to lament over this and not to succumb to intimidation, but to continue to fight against the war in Ukraine and the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Reactions to the verdict

After the announcement of the verdict, a post appeared on Navalny’s social networks: “The number doesn’t matter. I understand very well that, like many political prisoners, I am serving a life sentence. Where life is measured by the duration of my life or the life of this regime.

“Judging by the double-digit figures that are increasingly appearing in sentences against oppositionists, over the past years Putin has only strengthened in his delusion and seriously believed in his own infinity... However, life always punishes for this,” such a comment published in the social networks of Navalny's ally Ilya Yashin, who himself is in the colony.

The EU Delegation to Russia condemned the verdict.

“The fact that the Russian legal system continues to be used as a tool to fight Navalny shows how afraid the Russian authorities are of him. What is happening with Navalny is another example of the ongoing systematic persecution by the Russian authorities and their disregard for the human rights of their own citizens,” the statement said.

The United States also condemned the verdict, calling it "an unfair ending to an unfair trial" by the State Department. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tweeted: “The Kremlin cannot silence the truth. Navalny must be released."

“This latest verdict following yet another travesty trial of Alexei Navalny is unacceptable. This arbitrary conviction is a reaction to his courage and willingness to speak critically of the Kremlin regime,” said Charles Michel, President of the Council of the EU, writes with the BBC.

The head of the EU diplomatic department, Josep Borrell, condemned the verdict and called on the Russian authorities to release Navalny immediately and without conditions.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock called Navalny's sentence “pure injustice” and emphasized that “Putin fears no one more than those who speak out against war and corruption, as well as for democracy – even from a prison cell.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who was the subject of one of Navalny’s most famous investigations, “He’s Not Dimon,” also commented on the verdict. For an unknown reason, he compared Navalny’s sentence with economic statistics: “Russia remains the fifth economy in terms of purchasing power parity. Despite the insane sanctions and the hybrid war declared on us. Navalny received 19 years. Sic fata voluerunt (“as fate wills” - Latin)" - wrote Medvedev.

Pro-Kremlin political commentator Sergei Markov did not stand aside either.

“Navalny got horror. Or even horror-horror-horror. It's not just 19 years. This is a strict regime, which means the harshest conditions. Isn't this too much? Why these cruelties? Why isn’t Navalny allowed to see his wife? He's not a killer. Rigidity must be applied in other areas. I believe that Putin learned about this super-harsh sentence from the media and is not happy with the bureaucracy’s overzealousness towards captured enemies,” writes Markov. — Navalny as a Russian politician is not a threat. But the Russian government views Navalny not as an independent politician, but as a sharp instrument in the hands of the United States and the West. And this is a very strong opponent. Therefore, the arrest and imprisonment of Navalny and the ban on his network is simply taking the sharp weapon out of the hands of the United States.”

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Who is Navalny

Navalny, one of the most famous Russian oppositionists, has been in prison since February 2021. At that time, the court, at the request of the Federal Penitentiary Service, replaced his suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case with a real imprisonment. This happened immediately after his return from Germany, where he was undergoing treatment after being poisoned with the Russian military poison Novichok.

Initially, the politician was serving his sentence in a general regime colony in Pokrov and was supposed to be released in the summer of 2023. However, in June 2022, a new verdict in the fraud case came into force, as a result of which Navalny was sentenced to nine years in a strict regime. After that, he was transferred to a penal colony of strict regime IK-6 in the village of Melehovo, Vladimir Region.

On July 20, Alexei Navalny delivered his last word in court. In his speech, he accused the Russian authorities of worsening the life of the population and again condemned the war against Ukraine.

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