Alexei Navanly, a jailed Putin critic and political adversary, has revealed that he faces another 15 years in prison after being charged with new accusations.
The 45-year-old, who is already serving two years in a Russian prison camp for parole violations and fraud, has now been accused with founding an extremist group and inciting hatred.
Navalny, who has dismissed all charges as politically motivated, announced the new case on Instagram, sarcastically musing: ‘Perhaps Putin does not despise me, but secretly adores me?
‘And that’s why he wants me to be – just like himself – hidden in an underground bunker, guarded by reliable people.’
“Not even eight days have passed since my nine-year high-security sentence came into force, and today the investigator showed up again and formally charged me with a new case,” he continued.
“It turns out that I created an extremist group in order to incite hatred towards officials and oligarchs.
‘And when they put me in jail, I dared to be disgruntled about it and called for rallies. For that, they’re supposed to add up to 15 more years to my sentence.’
There was no immediate confirmation of the new charges from the Russian Ministry of Justice.
Originally a lawyer, Navalny became an anti-corruption campaigner and later political rival to Vladimir Putin who he intended to run against in the 2018 Presidential election before being banned.
Navalny’s legal troubles began shortly after his corruption campaigning turned its sights on Putin and his party, receiving two suspended sentences in 2013 and 2014 for embezzlement.
In 2020, he collapsed during a domestic flight in Russia after being poisoned with nerve agent Novichok which was allegedly smeared in his underpants.
He was flown for treatment in Germany and recovered, before travelling back to Russia to continue campaigning.
Navalny was arrested on arrival, charged with breaching his parole on the embezzlement charges while in Germany, and in February 2021 was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a penal colony.
In late March this year, he had his jail time extended to nine years after he was found guilty of embezzling donations to his political organisations and contempt of court.
He appeared in court via videolink just last week to appeal the charges, but was slapped down by a judge who ruled the court should ‘leave the sentence without changes’ and for it to enter into force immediately.
He dismissed his trial as ‘meaningless’, saying: ‘I despise your court, your system.’
‘It’s you, your system and Putin who are traitors against the Russian people’, said Navalny, 45. ‘I am ready to sit in jail to prove that not everyone in Russia is like this’.
Navalny used his speech to condemn the Kremlin and its military campaign in Ukraine.
‘What Putin is doing is pointless,’ he said. ‘One crazy thief has seized hold of Ukraine and no one understands what he wants to do with it’.
The opposition politician appeared composed during the hearing, even joking about problems with the sound system.
‘Your time will pass and you will burn in hell,’ he concluded.
Dozens of Navalny’s team and supporters have also been targeted over the last 12 months, with his Anti-Corruption Foundation designated an extremist organisation and effectively outlawed.
Many of the people who worked for his foundation will be facing long-term jail sentences themselves and it is thought that a large number have emigrated.
Navalny’s constant and consistent charges of corruption against Putin and the Russian state were echoed by Russian diplomat to the UN office in Geneva Boris Bondarev, 41, who resigned on Monday after 20 years in the diplomatic service.
He sent a letter to 40 diplomats in which he said he had never been ‘so ashamed of my country’ following Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
In the letter, he condemned ‘the aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine and in fact against the entire Western world’.
Bondarev added that those who conceived the war ‘want only one thing – to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity.’
Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova told the court the sentence should be annulled as it is ‘unjust’ and ‘contradicts international law’, while the prosecutor called it ‘legal and justified’.
Navalny alleged his legal team ‘caught judge (Margarita) Kotova right in the middle of the trial calling someone from the presidential administration’.
Navalny rose to prominence as an anti-corruption blogger and, before his imprisonment, mobilised anti-government protests across Russia.
In 2020, he narrowly survived a poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-designed military-grade nerve agent. Despite accusations from Navalny, the Kremlin denied any involvement.
He was arrested last year on his return from treatment in Germany, sparking widespread condemnation abroad and sanctions from Western capitals.
In 2018, he campaigned as a presidential candidate but was barred from running in the election that saw Putin secure a fourth term in power.
Navalny’s political organisations across the country have been declared ‘extremist’ and shut down.
His key allies have fled Russia and several are wanted by Russian authorities on criminal charges.
Navalny’s team continues publishing investigations into the wealth of Russia’s elites that have garnered millions of views on YouTube.