The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed a further 19 year jail term, at a trial in a remote penal colony.
Mr Navalny was found guilty of founding and funding an extremist organisation and activities. He denies the charges.
He is already serving a nine-year term for parole violations, fraud and contempt of court. The charges are widely viewed as politically motivated.
Since his jailing in 2021, Mr Navalny has been held at a remote penal colony.
A hall in the prison, Penal Colony No 6 in Melekhovo, which is 240km (150 miles) east of Moscow, was turned into a makeshift courtroom for the Kremlin’s most vocal critic. The proceedings were held behind closed doors.
Mr Navalny will serve his time in a maximum-security colony, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said.
Russian state prosecutors had called for a 20-year prison sentence for Mr Navalny, and for him to serve it in an even more restrictive “special regime colony”. Such prisons are normally reserved for Russia’s most dangerous criminals.
In a message posted on social media ahead of the verdict, Mr Navalny expressed his belief that he would be handed a “Stalinist” style prison term designed to frighten other potential dissenters.
BBC
