Berlin: The conviction of the imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on new trumped-up charges on March 22, reflects the Russian government’s intensified crackdown on dissent and free expression since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Human Rights Watch has said.
The trial on trumped up charges of embezzlement and insulting a judge took place in a penal colony in Pokrov, where Navalny has been serving his prison sentence on previous charges.
He was sentenced to nine more years in prison and a 1.2 million ruble (approximately US$11,300) fine.
"The latest verdict against Navalny is yet another mockery of justice," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a media release on Wednesday.
"This verdict is apparently intended not only to silence Navalny but to serve as a warning to Russian civil society and anyone who dares to stand up to the Kremlin’s policies," he added.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 immediately upon his return to Russia after undergoing treatment in Germany following his near-fatal poisoning in August 2020.
Russian authorities accused him of violating the terms of his probation while he was in Germany and in February 2021 sent him to prison to serve the remaining 32 months of his suspended sentence.
Russian authorities have been bringing new criminal charges against him ever since.
"The cases against Navalny are part of the Kremlin’s grim landscape of repression against Russia’s civil society and peaceful dissent, which has drastically intensified since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine," Williamson said.
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