opponent Alexei Navalny sentenced to 19 years in prison for “extremism”

2023-08-04 16:42:00

After the announcement of the conviction of the main Russian opponent to Vladimir Putin, the UN, the European Union or even France called for his immediate release.

GA with AFP Russian opponent Alexei Navalny was sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison on August 4, 2023. © ANNA YURIEVA / AFP Published on 08/04/2023 at 4:42 p.m.

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He feared a “Stalinist sentence”. Alexei Navalny, the Russian nationalist, first opponent of Vladimir Putin, was sentenced on Friday August 4 to 19 additional years in prison for “extremism”. He will have to serve his sentence in a prison center known for its very difficult living conditions. “Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to 19 years of special regime”, or imprisonment in one of the harshest establishments of the Russian prison system, indicated on X (ex-Twitter) his spokesperson Kira Iarmych.

In the evening, the 47-year-old Russian called on his compatriots to “continue to resist” Kremlin policy. “You are being forced to abandon your Russia without fighting against the band of traitors, thieves and scoundrels who have taken power. (Vladimir) Putin must not achieve his goal. Do not lose the will to resist, ”wrote Mr. Navalny according to a message posted on his Facebook page by his team.

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Outraged international reactions

Quickly after the announcement of the verdict, the European Union, through the voice of Charles Michel, deemed Navalny’s “arbitrary” condemnation “unacceptable”. For her part, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, spoke of a “flagrant injustice”. “Putin fears nothing more than those who oppose war, corruption and defend democracy, even from a prison cell. It will not silence critical voices, ”added the minister in a message on X.

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Other reactions: the UN has called for the “immediate release” of the Russian opponent. His conviction “raises new concerns about judicial harassment and the instrumentalization of the judicial system for political purposes in Russia”, denounced the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in a press release. States “have an obligation to respect […] full rights to a fair trial and due process for all individuals deprived of their liberty,” Mr. Türk recalled. “I call on the Russian authorities to respect these obligations by immediately ceasing violations of Mr. Navalny’s human rights and releasing him,” he added.

As for France, it condemned the decision “with the greatest vigor”, seeing it as “judicial harassment”. “We once again call on the Russian authorities to release Mr. Navalny immediately and unconditionally, as well as all political prisoners,” responded a spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry.