Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny received an additional 19 years in prison yesterday.
The most prominent domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin and his supporters say that the criminal case against him was fabricated so that the authorities could keep him behind bars and out of politics for as long as possible. Navalny is already serving a total of 11-and-a-half years for fraud and other charges he says are also false. His political movement was banned and declared "extremist".
A court at his IK-6 penal colony in Melekhov, about 235 km east of Moscow, ended Navalny's trial yesterday on six separate charges, including inciting and financing extremist activities and creating an extremist organization.
The audio recording from the court, where the trial was held behind closed doors in the prison's sports hall, was so poor that it was virtually impossible to make out what Judge Andrei Suvorov was saying, Reuters reported.
The Prosecutor's Office requested that 20 years of imprisonment be added to Navalny.
Unconfirmed Russian media reports say that Navalny, now 47, will be 74 when he is released from prison in 2050.
A former blogger and lawyer who investigated corruption, he chose the role of a political martyr with the aim of showing Russians that it is possible to resist Putin, albeit at a high cost, according to Reuters.
"In order for a new, free, rich country to be born, it must have parents. Those who want it. Who expect it and who are ready to make sacrifices for her birth," said Navalny in his closing speech last month.
In a message posted on social media on Thursday, Navalny predicted he would receive a long prison sentence, but said it didn't matter because he also faces separate terrorism charges that could bring another decade behind bars.
Unconfirmed Russian media reports say Navalny, now 47, will be 74 when he is released from prison in 2050.
Navalny said the purpose of prolonging his detention was to intimidate the Russians, but urged them not to be afraid and to think about how best to resist the "villains and thieves in the Kremlin."
The charges relate to Navalny's role in his defunct movement within Russia, which authorities have accused of trying to foment revolution by seeking to destabilize the socio-political situation.
The US State Department called the verdict "an unfair conclusion to an unfair trial", while the European Union condemned another politically motivated verdict and called for Navalny's immediate release.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Tirk said the sentence renewed serious concerns about judicial harassment and the use of the judicial system for political purposes in Russia. German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock called the verdict "pure injustice".
British Foreign Minister James Cleverley said that the Russian court's decision represented "a complete disregard for the most basic human rights."
"Dissidents cannot be silenced. The UK is calling for his immediate release," he added.
The Kremlin, which at one point accused Navalny of working for the CIA to undermine Russia, denies prosecuting Navalny, arguing that he has never been a serious political competitor and that his case is solely a matter for the courts.
Supporters present Navalny as a Russian version of Nelson Mandela who will one day be released from prison to rule the country.
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