Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny jailed for a further 19 years over ‘extremism’
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to a further 19 years behind bars on charges his supporters have branded trumped up to keep him out of politics for even longer.
The 47-year-old, who is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest domestic critic, is already serving more than 11 years in prison for fraud and other alleged crimes he argues are also bogus.
Mr Navalny’s political movement has been outlawed and declared “extremist”.
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State prosecutors had asked the court to hand him another two decades in a penal colony on six separate criminal charges, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation.
It is widely seen as a deliberate, politically-motivated strategy by the Kremlin to silence its most vocal opponent, who exposed official corruption and organised large-scale protests.
In a message posted on social media via his lawyers and aides, Mr Navalny said the outcome of the case did not matter as he was also threatened with terrorism charges that could bring decades in jail.
He said: “It’s going to be a long sentence. What is called ‘Stalinist’.”
He said the aim was to frighten Russians, but urged them not to let that happen and to think hard about how best to resist what he called the “villains and thieves in the Kremlin”.
The charges relate to his role in his now defunct movement inside Russia, which the authorities accused of trying to trigger a revolution by seeking to destabilise the country.
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June: Navalny appears at court hearing
In his closing statement last month, delivered behind closed doors at the prison in Melekhovo, about 145 miles (235 km) east of Moscow where he is serving his sentences, Mr Navalny explained why he would keep opposing the Russian authorities.
He said: “For a new, free, rich country to be born, it must have parents. Those who want it. Who expect it and who are willing to make sacrifices for its birth.”
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Mr Putin, in power since 1999, is expected to run for another six-year presidential term in 2024.
With Russia waging what he calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine and locked in what he describes as an existential battle with the West, Mr Putin says it is vital for the country to remain united.
Vladimir Putin is expected to run for another six-year term in 2024
In February, the Russian leader ordered the FSB internal security service to step up its activities and said it was necessary “to identify and stop the illegal activities of those who are trying to divide and weaken our society”.
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Mr Navalny, who in the last decade brought tens of thousands of people on to the streets, was detained in January 2021 after returning to Moscow from Germany where he had been treated for what German doctors said was poisoning by a Soviet-era nerve agent.
The Kremlin, which at one point accused him of working with the CIA to undermine Russia, denied any involvement in what happened to him and denies persecuting Mr Navalny.
It has claimed he never represented a serious political challenge and that his case is purely a legal matter for the courts.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former “thug” and “pit bull”, has been accused of lying about a phone call he says he made to the former US president about payments to ex porn star Stormy Daniels.
Cohen, a lawyer who worked for the Trump Organisation from 2006 to 2017, has been giving evidence in the case about hush money payments to Ms Daniels – in an attempt to cover up an alleged sexual encounter in 2006.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, called into question an important detail – a phone call made by Cohen to Trump’s assistant, Keith Schiller, on 24 October 2016.
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Cohen, 57, has maintained that during that call he spoke to Trump (who was either given the phone by Mr Schiller or placed on loudspeaker – we don’t know which) and told him he had paid Ms Daniels $130,000 in hush money on his behalf.
But Mr Blanche called this into doubt – showing the jury a number of interactions suggesting Cohen was in contact with Mr Schiller about a different issue at the same time, namely that he was receiving harassing phone calls and texts from a 14-year-old child.
“That was a lie – you did not talk to President Trump on that night, you talked to Keith Schiller about what we just went through,” Mr Blanche said.
Cohen said that, based on his records, he believes he spoke to Trump about the Stormy Daniels matter.
“We are not asking for your belief,” Mr Blanche said. “This jury does not want to hear what you think happened.”
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Donald Trump in court on Thursday. Pic: Reuters
That exchange was part of several hours of questioning which apparently sought to paint a picture of Cohen as someone who is eager to see his former boss behind bars.
Mr Blanche played jurors audio clips of Cohen saying the case “fills me with delight” and that imagining Trump and his family in prison made him feel “giddy with hope and laughter”.
“Does the outcome of this trial affect you personally?” Mr Blanche asked.
“Yes,” Cohen replied. He is due to return to the witness stand on Monday.
Michael Cohen (right) was Donald Trump’s fixer. Pic: AP
Cohen worked as the former president’s fixer. He once described himself as Trump’s “spokesman, thug, pit bull and lawless lawyer”.
He once said he would take a bullet for his boss and admitted at the end of questioning on Tuesday that he “violated my moral compass” while working for Trump.
Hush money payouts are not illegal, but Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide it – a claim he denies.
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