Russia’s Navalny faces decades in prison in new trial

AFP :
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is set to go on trial on Monday (19 June) on charges of “extremism” that could keep him behind bars for decades.
The new case against the opposition leader comes as Moscow ramps up its crackdown, more than a year into its offensive in Ukraine, with most key opposition figures behind bars or in exile.
Navalny, who used to mobilise massive anti-Kremlin protests, is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence on embezzlement charges that his supporters see as punishment for his political work.
The 47-year-old was arrested in 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he recovered from a poison attack the previous year that he blamed on the Kremlin.
He has suffered from major weight loss in prison and now faces up to another 30 years behind bars.
Navalny said that prosecutors provided him with 3,828 pages describing all the crimes he is alleged to have committed while in prison.
“Although it is clear from the size of the tomes that I am a sophisticated and persistent criminal, it is impossible to find out what exactly I am accused of,” Navalny quipped.
He has been charged with financing extremist activity, publicly inciting extremist activities and “rehabilitating the Nazi ideology”, among other crimes.
This will be the first formal political case against him, his team said.
“He is being tried for his political work,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told AFP.