POKROV, Russia — A Russian court on Tuesday found jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny
guilty of additional charges and extended his sentence to nine years in a
higher security prison as Moscow seeks to wipe out remaining pockets of
dissent.
اضافة اعلان
The sentencing
came on the 27th day of what
Moscow calls its “special military operation” in
pro-Western Ukraine, with thousands killed and some 10 million displaced.
Following the
verdict, President
Vladimir Putin’s most vocal domestic critic who has been
behind bars for roughly a year said the Russian leader was afraid of the truth.
“Putin is afraid
of the truth, I have always said this. Fighting censorship, relaying the truth
to the people of Russia always remained our priority,” the 45-year-old
opposition politician said in a post on Instagram after the sentencing.
With his trademark
sense of humor, Navalny took the extension of his jail time on new charges of
embezzlement and contempt of court in stride, joking that his “space flight is
being extended — my ship has gotten caught in a time loop.”
He also urged
Russians to resist “these war criminals”.
He stood trial
inside his penal colony in the town of Pokrov outside Moscow.
“Navalny committed
fraud — the theft of property by an organized group,” judge Margarita Kotova
said, according to an AFP reporter present at the hearing.
The judge also
found Navalny guilty of the less severe charge of contempt of court.
Navalny will serve
his new sentence in a “strict-regime” penal colony, which will place him in
much harsher conditions.
His lawyers,
Olga Mikhailova, and Vadim Kobzev, were briefly detained by police outside the
prison following the verdict but were later freed.
Navalny’s defense team
said that the new sentence replaces the one he is currently serving, meaning
that Navalny will not be freed for another eight years, instead of a year and a
half.
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