MOSCOW (AP) — A new trial against Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny opened Tuesday at the penal colony where he faces another lengthy prison term, a further step in a yearlong, multi-pronged crackdown on Russia’s most ardent Kremlin critic, his allies and other dissenting voices.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s longtime foe, is charged with fraud and contempt of court. His allies denounced the case as an effort by the Kremlin to keep the politician in prison for as long as possible.
Authorities moved the trial to the prison colony hours away from Moscow, where Navalny is serving a sentence for parole violations. The move received criticism for effectively limiting access to the proceedings for the media and supporters.
Navalny, 45, appeared in the make-shift courtroom on Tuesday wearing a prison uniform.
“It is just that these people, who ordered this trial, are really scared,” he said during the hearing. “(Scared) of what I say during this trial, of people seeing that the case is obviously fabricated.”
The unusual trial got underway as world leaders are preoccupied with another round of tensions between Russia and the West fueled by fears that Russia plans to invade its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Navalny can receive up to 15 years in prison, if convicted, his allies have said, on top of the time he was ordered to serve last year.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin, accusations officials denied.
Shortly after the arrest, a court sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison over the parole violations stemming from a 2014 suspended sentence in a fraud case Navalny insists was politically motivated.
Following Navalny’s imprisonment, authorities unleashed a sweeping crackdown on his associates and supporters. His closest allies have left Russia after facing multiple criminal charges, and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of nearly 40 regional offices were outlawed as extremist — a designation that exposes people involved to prosecution.
Earlier this month, Russian officials added Navalny and a number of his associates to a state registry of extremists and terrorists.
Several criminal cases have been launched against Navalny individually, leading his associates to suggest the Kremlin intends to keep the politician behind bars for as long as possible.
“Navalny is in prison as a politician. He spoke the truth, ran for president, and for that Putin tried to kill him and then sent him to prison,” a close Navalny ally, Ivan Zhdanov, wrote on Facebook this month. “And there are no doubts that Putin will come up with more and more political cases.”
The prosecution in the current trial accuses Navalny of embezzling money he and his foundation raised over the years and of insulting a judge during his trial last year for allegedly slandering a World War II veteran. The politician has rejected the allegations as bogus.
Members of Navalny’s defense team complained they were not allowed to bring cellphones or laptops containing case files into the makeshift courtroom at the IK-2 penal colony. The prison is located in the Vladimir region, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Moscow.
Media access to the hearing, which was formally declared open to the press, was also severely restricted Tuesday.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia, was allowed to attend the trial on Tuesday. Photos published by Russia’s independent news site Mediazona showed the couple hugging and laughing during a haering recess.
In an emotional Instagram post on Monday, Yulia Navalnaya said she had a long family visit scheduled for Wednesday — one of four Navalny is allowed to have in one year — but the trial apparently would interfere with the visit.
“They did it on purpose. You wanted a visit from your family? You’re better off facing a farcical court right in prison,” Navalnaya wrote.
