2023-06-19 09:28:15
MELEKHOVO, Russia (AP) — A Russian court on Monday opened a new trial against jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny that could keep him behind bars for decades.
The trial is taking place at a maximum-security prison in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow, where Navalny, the Kremlin’s arch-enemy, is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court.
Navalny, 47, who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recovering in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
Navalny has indicated that the new extremism charges he rejected as “absurd” could keep him in prison for another 30 years. He added that an investigator told him that he too will face a separate trial in a military court on terrorism charges that could carry a life sentence.
1687168856
#Russian #court #starts #trial #opponent #Alexei #Navalny