IGotWorms 3,315 Posted March 22, 2022 A Russian court sentenced Aleksei A. Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison on Tuesday, imposing a new punishment on the imprisoned opposition leader at a time when the war in Ukraine has made him even more of a liability for President Vladimir V. Putin. Prosecutors had claimed that Mr. Navalny, a relentless critic and frequent target of Mr. Putin, and Mr. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation — which the Russian authorities banned as extremist last year — had embezzled donations from supporters. “Navalny committed fraud, that is, the theft of other people’s property through deceit and breach of trust,” the judge, Margarita Kotova, said in reading her verdict, according to the news agency Interfax. Mr. Navalny has been the subject of a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation by the Russian authorities, and the fraud case was widely seen as a move by the Kremlin to keep him behind bars beyond the expiration in 2023 of his current two-and-a-half-year prison term, ostensibly for violating the terms of his parole. It was also a way to increase Mr. Navalny’s personal hardship and isolation, with the new sentence clearing the way for him to be moved to a more remote, higher-security prison, making it more difficult for his lawyers and family to visit him. The latest trial was held in a makeshift courtroom at the prison outside Moscow where Mr. Navalny has been held for more than a year. Following the sentencing, two of his lawyers were detained by the police and driven away in a police truck after they went outside to speak to journalists, according to news reports, before being released later. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/world/europe/russia-navalny-prison.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hardcore troubadour 12,652 Posted March 22, 2022 Zelensky likes to arrest the opposition too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GobbleDog 816 Posted March 23, 2022 Garry Kasparov - the former chess champion and outspoken critic of Putin has said ever since Navalny's last arrest, he's serving a life sentence - either his life or Putin's political life. If Putin is ever removed from office, Navalny will be freed. Assuming he isn't murdered by the KGB while in prison. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Baker Boy 1,485 Posted March 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Hardcore troubadour said: Zelensky likes to arrest the opposition too. Biden and the DNC like to arrest the opposition too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fandandy 3,311 Posted March 23, 2022 If he makes it out alive, this dude is going to be something. Russian and Ukrainian roots and looks like this. He is being put in place, guaranteed. Save this here for future reference to show how smart I am. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Voltaire 4,560 Posted March 23, 2022 The Chinese use this go-to move too. Anyone they want to lock away, they bring them up on "Corruption" charges. We were living in Chongqing when the mayor, Bo XiLai, removed all the toll booths on the expressways that crisscrossed the city, so the people loved him. Xi JinPing didn't though, he had the guy sacked on corruption charges (unrelated to the toll booths and other things that made him popular). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
