Russia has actually forbidden Navalny’s organisation as part of a crackdown on dissent that’s intensified given that the war in Ukraine.
Russia has actually sentenced Vadim Ostanin, an advocate for Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny’s organisation, to 9 years in jail for taking part in an “extremist neighborhood”.
Ostanin was apprehended in December 2021 and kept in Moscow prior to being moved to the Siberian city of Barnaul, where he stood trial on Monday.
Ostanin, who had actually run the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s regional head office in Barnaul, had actually performed just “legal political work”, Navalny’s group stated on Telegram on Monday.
In a letter, composed by Ostanin and released by Navalny’s group, he stated: “Upon my arrival in Barnaul from Moscow, without description, I was positioned in a singular cell, about 6 square metres, in a basement with a window covered with particles.”
“About a week later on, the cell was flooded with ankle-deep water … in these cells there were rats, ants, spiders.”
Navalny’s group stated detectives had forced Ostanin to confess his “regret”, however he declined.
Russian district attorneys likewise discovered him guilty of participation in a non-profit group “whose activity includes violence versus residents”.
Last month, another Navalny advocate, Liliya Chanysheva, was sentenced to 7 and a half years for “extremism”.
Recently, Russian state district attorneys asked a court to sentence Navalny to another 20 years in a chastening nest on criminal charges, consisting of “extremism”.
For the previous month, the Kremlin critic has actually been on trial behind closed doors at the IK-6 chastening nest in Melekhovo, east of Moscow, where he is currently serving sentences equivalent to 11 and a half years on scams and other charges, he stated, to silence him.
Court records reveal that his brand-new charges associate with 6 short articles of the Russian criminal code, consisting of prompting and funding “extremist activity” and developing “an extremist organisation”.
Navalny’s assistants stated a decision will be revealed on August 4, however acquittals of opposition figures are unusual.
In his closing declaration, Navalny informed the court: “I continue to combat versus that deceitful evil that calls itself ‘the state power of the Russian Federation’.”
“I am implicated of prompting hatred towards agents of the authorities and unique services, judges and members of the United Russia celebration. No, I do not prompt hatred. I simply keep in mind that an individual has 2 legs, conscience and intelligence,” he stated.
Russia has actually forbidden Navalny’s organisation as part of a crackdown on dissent that began well prior to Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine however has actually magnified considering that it began.
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Al Jazeera and news firms