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Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that investigators had opened what he called an “absurd” terrorism case against him that could see him sentenced to an additional 30 years in prison.
Navalny, a former lawyer who rose to prominence by impeaching President Vladimir Putin and accusing him of widespread corruption, is serving a combined 11½-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court on charges he says were fabricated to silence him.
The 46-year-old opposition leader appeared in a Moscow court via video link on Wednesday, wearing a black Russian prison jacket and looking grim, as part of a case dealing with extremism, Reuters reporters said in court.
It was the first time he had been seen in public since supporters said earlier this month he had a stomach ailment in jail that may have been slowly poisoning. He smiled and joked with reporters until the video link went silent.
“[Russian authorities] have made absurd accusations, in my opinion he faces 30 years in prison,” he said in a statement published by his supporters.
It was not immediately clear what the link was to the terrorism case, but Russia’s Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Ukrainian and Russian opposition figures from a fund founded by Navalny were behind the high-profile killings. bloggers fight in cafe St.
This month, Russian investigators officially linked Navalny’s supporters to the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, a popular military blogger and supporter of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, who was killed by a bomb in St. Navalny’s allies deny any connection to the murder.
Navalny said it was absurd to deny he committed terrorism while in prison. He said the case would be tried by a military court.
Russian opposition
With less than a year to go before Putin’s expected 2024 presidential election, Russia’s judiciary and security services have stepped up their fight against perceived enemies, spies and traitors.
Navalny won the admiration of Russia’s disparate opposition for voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia.
The Kremlin has denied trying to kill him and says there is no evidence he was poisoned with a nerve agent.
His supporters billed him as the Russian version of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela who would be freed from jail to lead his country.
But Russian authorities consider him and his supporters to be CIA-linked extremists who want to destroy Russia. He banned his movement, forcing many of his followers to flee abroad.
His campaign organization has been banned in Russia.
Separately on Wednesday,, from from Wednesday, Russian investigators with Russian investigators, 11 people have been placed on an “international wanted list” in cases linked to Navalny.
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