Putin critic Navalny faces further 30 years prison in fresh trial
Moscow, Jun 19 (EFE).- Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny faced a new trial on Monday on charges of extremism that could see him sentenced to a further 30 years in prison if found guilty.
The critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin is currently serving a nine-year sentence on charges of fraud and contempt of court.
“Naturally, journalists do not have access (to the courtroom),” Navalny’s team wrote on Telegram.
Members of the media can follow the proceedings on television screens in another room, where the “sound is absolutely horrifying,” Mediazona, a Russian independent news outlet, reported.
“The broadcast for journalists is of such terrible quality that it is almost impossible to understand a single word,” Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh tweeted.
Joining Navalny in the dock is Daniel Jolodni, a former technical director of the opposition leader’s YouTube channel, who could face up to 15 years in prison.
During his daily press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Russian government was not following the trial.
Navalny has denounced that prison officials have not allowed him to examine his case file and that he has only been allowed to view one of the 196 volumes of documents related to the case.
Navalny is accused of financing and instigating extremist actions and of creating an extremist non-governmental organization that violates people’s rights.
The charges relate to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) Navalny launched in 2011 which was declared a “foreign agent” by Russia’s justice ministry in 2019.
Charges for involving minors in dangerous actions have also been filed against the dissident, linked to unauthorized anti-Kremlin demonstrations.
Navalny, a staunch Putin critic, has been a vociferous opponent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has accused the president of sending hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens “to the slaughterhouse”. EFE
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