Explained: Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny jailed for 19 more years. Who is he?

Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny'sprison sentence has been extended to19 years on Friday (August 4) in a criminal case that he said was trumped up to keep him behind bars and out of politics for even longer, a report by the news agency Reuters said. Navalny, 47, is already serving sentences totalling 11.5 years on fraud and other charges that he says are also bogus.

On July 20, Russian prosecutors sought a jail sentence of 20 years for Navalny, following which the European Union added the chief of the Russian prison camp holding the Kremlin critic to its sanctions list.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

As the arch-rival of President Vladimir Putin awaits his fate, here’s a look at who he is and how he got to this point.

Who is Alexei Navalny?

A lawyer by profession, Alexei Navalny gained prominence after he started writing blogs that exposed what he said was vast corruption in Russia. Navalny has said that the country is ruled by crooks and thieves.

Navalny and his team have lampooned President Putin and produced slick videos to expose the opulent lifestyles of the country’s elite. He has forecast that Russia could face seismic political turmoil, including a revolution because he says President Putin has built a system of personal rule that is reliant on sycophancy and corruption.

In the 2000s, Navalny participated in Russian nationalist marches and voiced anti-immigrant views. When protests against Putin flared in late 2011, Navalny was one of the first protesters to be arrested. Two years later, he ran for mayor of Moscow and won 27 per cent of the vote. However, since then, he has been barred on various grounds from running for office.

In an interview with Reuters in 2011, Navalny said that corruption was the foundation of contemporary Russia, adding, “It is the foundation of Mr. Putin’s political power.”

The dismissal and accusation

The Kremlin has dismissed Navalny's claims about corruption and Putin’s wealth. At one point, the Kremlin accused him of working with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to undermine Russia. It also portrayed Navalny as an agent of disruption and says he never represented serious political competition.

At present, Navalny’s movement is outlawed and most of his senior allies have fled Russia. Navalny has been detained multiple times for organising public rallies, and prosecuted repeatedly on charges including corruption, embezzlement, and fraud.

He denies the accusations and convictions by saying they are politically motivated.

The poisonings

In August 2020, Navalny fell ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. An emergency landing was made and Navalny was flown to Berlin where he was treated for the effects of a neurotoxin. Lab tests in three countries showed this neurotoxin to be Novichok, a poison developed in the Soviet Union. According to Reuters, a joint media investigation stated it identified a team of assassins from Russia’s FSB security service behind the poisoning.

Impersonating himself as a Russian official, Navalny made a phone call to one of the agents and the latter revealed the details of the plot, which included that the poison was smeared on Navalny’s underpants.

Dismissing the investigation, Putin said, “If someone had wanted to poison him, they would have finished him off.”

Extension ofNavalny's prison sentence

Navalny has been sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison after being found guilty on a series of new charges, on Friday (August 4), a sentence close to what he predicted.

This is after the Russian prosecutors have sought another 20 years of prison sentence on six separate criminal charges, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation, Reuters reported.

In a message posted on social media on Thursday, Navalny said the outcome (of the prison sentence) could be slightly less, at around 18 years.

“It’s going to be a long sentence. What is called ‘Stalinist’,” said Navalny, who can post on social media via his supporters and lawyers.

Last month, the Kremlin critic said that he would keep opposing Russian authorities. “For a new, free, rich country to be born, it must have parents. Those who want it. Who expects it and who are willing to make sacrifices for its birth,” he said, according to a text supplied by his aides.

On the Ukraine war

Alexei Navalny has also criticised the ongoing war in Ukraine by saying it was a “stupid war” which Putin started, adding the conflict was built on lies.

“One madman has got his claws into Ukraine and I do not know what he wants to do with it - this crazy thief,” Navalny said in a court hearing in 2022.

On June 19 this year, Navalny announced the start of a new mass campaign against Putin and the Ukraine war.

“We will conduct an election campaign against war. And against Putin. Just that. A long, stubborn, exhausting but fundamentally important campaign where we will turn people against the war,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.