Navalny faces 13 years in jail, two years on probation and a $10,600 wonderful for embezzlement and contempt of court docket fees.
Russian prosecutors have known as for jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny to serve 13 years in jail on new embezzlement and contempt of court docket fees.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal home critic, was jailed final 12 months after surviving a poison assault he blames on the Kremlin. He's serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
It was not instantly clear if the 13 years embrace the sentence he's at present serving.
His corruption fees carry a most penalty of 10 years, whereas contempt of court docket is punishable by as much as six months.
“I request that Navalny be sentenced to a time period of 13 years and a subsequent two years of probation,” prosecutor Nadezhda Tikhonova was quoted as saying by Russian information businesses.
The prosecutor additionally requested “two years of restricted freedom” for Navalny and that he pay a wonderful of 1.2 million roubles ($10,600).
A key Navalny aide and former head of his regional workplaces, Leonid Volkov, mentioned that Russia is looking for to maintain Navalny jailed for all times.
“He was sentenced to life from the very begin. As long as Putin remains to be within the Kremlin,” Volkov mentioned on Twitter.
Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh mentioned his sentence is dependent upon “how lengthy Putin is in energy”.
Calls to protest
“Then, we'll do every thing in order that he doesn’t keep in energy lengthy,” Yarmysh mentioned.
Investigators accuse Navalny of stealing for private use a number of million dollars price of donations that got to his political organisations.
Earlier than he was jailed, Navalny was Russia’s predominant opposition chief and his crew steadily printed investigations into the wealth of Russia’s elites that garnered thousands and thousands of views on YouTube.
Navalny’s poisoning in 2020 with a nerve agent and arrest on his return from rehabilitation in Germany final 12 months sparked widespread condemnation overseas, in addition to sanctions from Western capitals.
After his arrest, Navalny’s political organisations throughout the nation have been declared “extremist” and shut down, whereas many key aides fled Russia fearing prosecution.
Crackdown on media
Russia has additionally ramped up its stress on impartial media and NGOs with many declared overseas brokers or shut down underneath worry of prosecution.
A string of closures adopted after Russia handed a brand new legislation introducing as much as 15 years in jail for “faux information” about what Russia calls its army operation in Ukraine.
In an effort to additional management the data accessible to its home viewers in regards to the Ukraine battle, Russia restricted entry to Twitter, Fb and Instagram this month, and has blocked the web sites of a number of impartial information retailers.
On Instagram, Navalny has denounced Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and known as on his supporters to protest regardless of the excessive probability of fines and arrest.
Throughout the previous two weeks, shut to fifteen,000 individuals have been detained at Ukraine demonstrations throughout Russia, in accordance with impartial monitor OVD-Information.
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