Photo: DENIS KAMINEV/AP PHOTO/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
A Moscow court confirmed on Tuesday the nine-year prison sentence handed down against opposition leader Alexei Navalni, accused of fraud and contempt, which implies not only extending his time in prison but also tightening of the prison conditions, which will already be subject to a stricter regime.
The defense of Navalni had appealed the sentence announced in March, but finally the judge has decided to keep it “without changes”, according to statements collected by the Interfax news agency. “The verdict of the Lefortovo court of March 80 did not change,” declared a judge of the Moscow city court, indicating that it enters “effective immediately”.
Charges
Navalni, who is already serving another two-and-a-half-year sentence for fraud in a prison near Moscow, appeared by videoconference in court, where his lawyers have tried in vain to argue that there is no evidence against him and that everything is framed in a political persecution.
In the latter case, Navalni is accused of various fraudulent activities, some of them linked to fundraising for the activities of the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK), an organization founded by himself and classified as “extremist”. by Moscow.
The accusations of contempt derive from insults to a judge and a prosecutor during a trial for slander against a veteran of the Segu World War II, whom he had called a “corrupt lackey” and a “traitor”.
Navalni’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmish, has warned that the prison that will be transferred “is known because prisoners are tortured and killed” and warned that the sentence confirmed this Tuesday will not be the last, since Russian President Vladimir Putin would want to keep his rival behind bars “as long as he can” more symbolic.