Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted of “extremism” charges on Friday following closed prison court proceedings and sentenced to 19 years in a “special regime” prison colony, on top of existing sentences of more than 11 years, all in cases widely viewed as trumped up for political retribution.
But the extreme nature of the sentence — which bars him from family visits or even letters for 10 years — shocked even pro-Kremlin figures. The special regime prison colony, the harshest in Russia’s penal system, keeps prisoners in cells with the lights constantly on, barred from speaking.
“Navalny got horror,” pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov wrote on Telegram. “Isn’t that too much? Why these cruelties? Why can’t Navalny see his wife? He’s not a killer. Rigidity should be applied in other areas.”In a comment posted on social media after the verdict, Navalny said the brutality of the sentence was designed to frighten Russians and he urged them not to lose the will to resist.
“I perfectly understand that, like many political prisoners, I am sitting on a life sentence. Where life is measured by the term of my life or the term of life of this regime.”“You are being forced to surrender your country of Russia without a fight to the gang of traitors, thieves, and scoundrels who have seized power. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin must not achieve his goal,” his post said.
The harsh conditions may also prevent Navalny from keeping up his social media presence, maintained through his lawyers and team. Special regime prison colonies are usually reserved for those convicted to life imprisonment and for particularly dangerous repeat offenders.
Navalny, who led the country’s biggest liberal pro-democracy anti-corruption opposition movement, was convicted on charges of creating an extremist community, incitement to extremism, financing extremism, rehabilitation of Nazism, involving minors in dangerous acts and creating a nongovernmental organization that infringes on citizens’ rights.
In fact, Navalny and the Anti-Corruption Foundation that served as the umbrella organization for his activities, mainly focused on investigating vast public graft in Russia and on demanding free, democratic elections.
The Kremlin has effectively crushed Navalny, who is recognized as a political prisoner by Amnesty International, and his supporters. In June 2021, Russian authorities banned three Navalny-linked organizations, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation and his political network, branding them as “extremist” in a move strongly condemned by Amnesty International and other global human rights organizations.
In Navalny’s trial on extremism charges, Russia’s highly politicized justice system reached a new low — a closed trial in a prison inaccessible to the public.
His 19-year sentence was in stark contrast to the court system’s treatment of Eduard Bitarov, a soldier who fatally stabbed his wife 16 times, was convicted of the killing but then freed last month by a military court in Rostov-on-Don because he fought in the war against Ukraine.