Britain calls for ‘immediate release’ of Putin critic Alexei Navalny
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ritain has demanded Russia releases Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after he was sentenced to an additional 19 years’ imprisonment on fees he rejected as politically motivated.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly mentioned on Friday night that Moscow’s “abuse” of the opposition chief reveals a “complete disregard for even the most basic of human rights”.
Mr Navalny, who’s already serving jail time in Russia, was handed 19 years more on Friday following a behind-closed-doors trial on the IK-6 penal colony east of Moscow.
Following the listening to Mr Cleverly tweeted: “Alexei @Navalny has been sentenced to an additional 19 years in a Russian prison.
“His abuse shows Russia’s complete disregard for even the most basic of human rights.
“Dissent cannot be silenced. The UK calls for his immediate release.”
He was tried on six separate felony fees, together with inciting and financing extremist exercise and creating an extremist organisation.
Mr Navalny denied the costs, and warned forward of the decision he can be handed a “Stalinist” jail time period to push back different dissenters.
Appearing gaunt in court docket however displaying a defiant smile, the 47-year-old was convicted of extremism fees referring to his anti-corruption basis.
The opposition chief is already serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court docket. He additionally was sentenced in 2021 to 2 and a half years in jail for a parole violation.
One of president Vladimir Putin’s loudest critics, his arrest in 2021 got here after he returned to Moscow following a interval of recuperation in Germany after being poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent.
He is being held at a maximum-security penal colony at Melekhovo and appeared in court docket final month, facing new allegations of creating an extremist organisation. If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to 30 years.
In a ruling earlier this yr, the European Court of Human Rights discovered that Russia had “notably” failed to analyze Mr Navalny’s 2020 poisoning.
The court docket mentioned Russia had failed “to explore the allegations of a possible political motive for the attempted murder, as well as possible involvement of state agents.”