With All Eyes on Ukraine, Russia Seeks To Extend Alexei Navalny’s Jail Term

Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, is facing new charges that could add 15 years to his sentence.

With the attention of the international community and media outlets firmly on Russia’s moves in Ukraine, the trial of the 45-year-old anti-corruption activist has quietly entered its third day on Tuesday, February 22.

The founder of FBK, the anti-corruption body that carried out dozens of investigations into Russian officials and political elites, including president Vladimir Putin, is already serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for violating his parole for a previous suspended conviction by going abroad.

Navalny was jailed in January 2021 upon his arrival to Moscow from Germany, where he was taken for treatment while in a coma, and recovering from a poisoning attack.

Navalny’s allies and Western intelligence agencies believe the attack using Novichok, a Soviet-made nerve agent, was organized by Russia’s FSB security service with the Kremlin’s approval, a claim that Moscow has repeatedly refuted.

The offsite hearings in the new case are taking place inside the Pokrov correctional facility, where Navalny is serving his current term, according to MediaZona, an independent news outlet that focuses its reporting on the judicial and penal systems in Russia.

The prosecutors are accusing Navalny of appropriating more than $33,000 in donations that were given to his organizations and putting the funds to his own personal use, charges that Navalny and his supporters reject and claim are politically motivated.

The new charges against Navalny, including four counts of major fraud and two counts of contempt of court, could extend his incarceration by another 15 years. Most of the charges are based on complaints from a few donors, who—Navalny’s associates claim—were pressured into testifying against him.

On Monday, February 21, a key witness for the prosecution, Fyodor Gorozhanko, a former FBK employee, testified that the case against Navalny is “absurd,” adding that even though he is the prosecution’s witness, “he is speaking as a witness for the defense.”

Gorozhanko said he testified “under duress,” and refused to appear in court on the third day of the trial.

“We believe the persecution of Navalny is illegal, is distinctly political in nature, and aimed at discrediting and removing him from political activity,” lawyer Olga Mikhailova said, according to Novaya Gazeta.

The highly unusual closed-door hearing held inside the maximum security prison in a town of Pokrov, in the Vladimir region, has been criticized by human rights groups and described as a “sham” by Navalny’s allies and legal representatives.

While Russian laws in principle do not prohibit holding such offsite trials, no official explanation was provided in the court papers as to why this decision has been made in this case.

Navalny’s supporters claimed that the move is part of an effort to minimize media coverage of the proceedings. Newsweek has reached out to the Lefortovo District Court for clarification.

The Moscow City Court stated that media accreditation for the trial was limited due to “restrictions introduced due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection.”

Some journalists were, however, allowed to follow the hearing via a videolink from a separate room, but were banned from using recording equipment.

Navalny’s lawyers were also barred from bringing electronic equipment, including laptops with case files, because it is illegal to bring electronic equipment under the penitentiary’s rules, according to the transcript of the judge’s response published by MediaZona.

The anti-corruption activist’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was pictured hugging her husband during last week’s proceedings, which she was allowed to attend after making a public appeal to the authorities.

Oleg Navalny, Alexei’s younger brother, who was serving a one-year suspended sentence for breaking coronavirus pandemic restrictions, was ordered by another Moscow court to be jailed in absentia for allegedly violating the terms of his suspended sentence.

He was not present at the trial. According to court documents cited by news agencies, he traveled to Cyprus in September last year and did not return to Russia.

Most of Alexey Navalny’s associates have been branded “extremists” and faced charges in recent years, with many being forced to flee Russia. The Kremlin continues to deny that the prosecutions are politically motivated.

Despite being in prison, Navalny was among the contenders for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. He had previously urged the U.S. and the European Union to impose sanctions on Russian officials and oligarchs that would “hit Putin where it hurts.”