A trial will open next week for alleged extremism against imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny. “The preliminary hearing in the new case of Alexei Navalny will begin at 11 a.m. on May 31,” the Moscow court said on Friday, according to state news agency TASS.
The process therefore takes place behind closed doors. If convicted, Navalny faces an additional 30 years in prison.
Anti-corruption fund classified as extremist
A total of seven charges are brought against him, including founding, financing and participating in an extremist organization, inciting extremism and trivializing Nazism. Two years ago, the Moscow court, before which the trial is now scheduled, declared the anti-corruption fund (FBK) founded by Navalny extremist. The FBK has published a number of materials on corruption from the highest political level to President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny has been in prison for more than two years. The most famous opponent of Kremlin chief Putin was poisoned with the nerve gas Novichok during a trip to Siberia in the summer of 2020. He was flown to Germany in a coma, where he was treated at the Berlin Charité. Navalny accuses the Russian domestic secret service FSB of being behind the poisoning. The Kremlin denies the allegations.
Navalny is considered a political prisoner
After recovering, Navalny returned to Russia in January 2021 and was arrested as soon as he arrived at Moscow airport – initially for alleged violations of probation terms from an earlier sentence. Last year he was sentenced to a further nine years in prison under particularly harsh circumstances for fraud. Internationally, he is considered a political prisoner.
Source: Krone
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