Navalny sentenced to two and a half years of forced labor

As in recent trials, police have adopted enhanced security measures around the building to prevent protests. At the hearing 50 journalists were accredited and ten diplomats from European countries took part.

Lawyer Olga Mijailova spoke to demand the release of the leader of the opposition, as demanded by the European Court of Human Rights and insists that he did not violate parole with mandatory presentations to which he had to endure a suspended sentence for being in Germany to seek treatment for the poisoning he suffered in November. All the evidence points to Russian intelligence as the perpetrator of the poisoning. Navalny received a near-fatal dose of Agent Novichok, a poison made and invented in Russia.

It was the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) that accused him of not attend the summons and demanded that the conditional sentence be converted into a real prison sentence. The sentence now to be served relates to charges of alleged corruption. Navalny is the herald of denouncing the corruption of the government of Vladimir Putin, and it is no accident that he was convicted of these charges. A power way of trying to delegitimize your opponent. The prosecutor, Ekaterina Frolova, assured that Navalny “had committed seven violations of the conditions of the trial period before” hospitalization and two within 30 days of internment.

In his intervention in court after hearing the sentence, the leader of the opposition quoted the Bible, the Gospel of Saint Matthew: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be satisfied”. He said that all he wanted for Russia was justice, freedom and also “right to be happy “.

A hearing was also held in the same court on the charge of “defamation” brought against him by the relatives of the veteran. Ignat Artiomenko, which, according to them, Navalny offended with “false and insulting” statements. The prosecutor, also Frolova, had asked for a fine of 950,000 rubles, but it ultimately remained at 850,000, a record in Russia for such misconduct.

Artiomenko participated in a propaganda video of constitutional amendments promoted by Vladimir Poutine and asked to vote for them in last year’s referendum. The reform will allow the current Russian president to run for office in 2024 and 2030. Navalny called those who appeared in the film “national disgrace and traitors”.

The court concluded that the crime of< diffamation >> was established and also addressed a request to the commission of inquiry to investigate whether, during the trial, Navalny offended the prosecutor and the judge, which he ridiculed and recommended taking a course to improve their legal knowledge. New criminal proceedings could be opened against him, which could at the very least lead to his incarceration in a “severe regime” prison.