Alexei Navalny sentenced to 19 years in a special regime colony in the case of creating an extremist community. The visiting session of the Moscow City Court was held in IK-6 in the Vladimir region, where Navalny is serving his sentence in the previous case. The former technical director of the Navalny Live YouTube channel, Daniel Kholodny, who was also involved in the case, was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony, his lawyer Svetlana Davydova told RBC.
Announcement of the verdict, as well as hearings in the case (with mid June) was held behind closed doors. Two weeks before the announcement of Navalny’s verdict sent to the punishment cell (SHIZO), where he spent all the time before the court session.
Prosecutor requested for an opposition member 20 years in prison in a strict regime colony. Navalny was charged with seven episodes:
creation of an extremist community using one’s official position (part 3 of article 282.1);
financing of extremist activities using one’s official position (part 2 of article 282.3);
public calls for extremist activity, including using the media or the Internet (part 1 of article 280);
involvement of a minor in committing actions dangerous to his life (in public, by a group, in relation to two or more minors) (paragraphs “a”, “b”, “c” of part 2 of article 151.2);
rehabilitation of Nazism, including the dissemination of information “expressing clear disrespect for society” about the days of military glory, humiliation of veterans or insulting the memory of the defenders of the fatherland (part 3 of article 354.1);
creation of an NPO that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens (part 2 of article 239).
zona.media, 08/05/2023, “The judge released Navalny from liability for four episodes from the “extremist case” due to the statute of limitations”: The judge of the Moscow City Court, Andrei Suvorov, yesterday, reading out the verdict to Alexei Navalny in the “extremist case”, released the politician from liability for four episodes due to the statute of limitations. […]
As a result, the court punished Navalny under articles on financing extremism (part 2 of article 282.3 of the Criminal Code), the creation of an extremist community (part 3 of article 282.1 of the Criminal Code) and incitement to extremism (part 2 of article 280 of the Criminal Code). Under the first two articles, the politician was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison and a year and a half of restriction of freedom with a fine of 500 thousand rubles and a ban on writing on the Internet for nine years, under the third – four years in prison with a ban on using the Internet for two years.
Taking into account previous sentences, the oppositionist was sentenced to 19 years in a special regime colony and a fine of 500 thousand rubles. He was also sentenced to three years of freedom restriction and banned from writing on the Internet for 10 years. In the verdict, Judge Suvorov said that Navalny would spend 19 years in a colony, taking into account the time already served. At the same time, the politician has been in custody since January 2021. Therefore, the court-appointed deadline should end at the end of the 2030s. — Inset K.ru
Daniel Kholodny, former CTO of the Navalny Live You-Tube channel, was accused of creating an extremist community and financing extremist activities using his official position. They asked for ten years in prison for him.
Regarding his sentence, Navalny said that “the figure does not matter”: “I understand very well that, like many political prisoners, I am serving a life sentence. Where life is measured by the duration of my life or the life of this regime.
The case of Navalny and Kholodny on extremism was considered by Moscow City Court judge Andrey Suvorov, who had previously tried a US citizen Paul Whelan in a case of espionage (16 years in prison) and a former top manager of Inter RAO Karina Turcan also in the case of espionage (15 years in prison).
“Kommersant”, 04.08.2023, “Category 18+”: Since the trial was closed, the specific content of the charges brought against Mr. Navalny is unknown. They can be assumed based on the publications in the telegram channels, which are conducted on behalf of the publicist Vladimir Kara-Murza (included in the register of foreign agents, convicted in the case of treason and fakes about the army) and another opposition member Ilya Yashin (included in the register of foreign agents, convicted under the article on discrediting the army) – both spoke at the trial as witnesses for the defense.
As follows from the entries in the channel of Mr. Kara-Murza, according to investigators, Navalny’s participation in the elections of the mayor of Moscow in 2013 and the presidential elections in 2018 (the oppositionist was not registered on them, but managed to start preparing for them, including fundraising) was only an external cover for his underground destructive activities, and public criticism of the authorities was a manifestation of extremism. And in Ilya Yashin’s Telegram channel, it is reported that Alexei Navalny, among other things, clarified with him how common it is to raise funds for the presidential election before the official start of the election campaign. According to the politician’s retelling, it follows from the indictment that Navalny participated in the elections with an extremist motive of inciting hatred for the government and with the aim of overthrowing it. […]
Lawyer Robert Zinoviev says that he has never encountered a structure where participation in elections was qualified as an attempt to seize power. Destructive forces may well come to power in a legal way, and history knows many examples of this, the lawyer recalls. And here it is very difficult to draw a line: the same actions, depending on the context, can be interpreted as normal, or they can be interpreted as criminal. — Inset K.ru
Why was Navalny tried?
Criminal case on the creation and management of an extremist community was instituted regarding Navalny in September 2021. We are talking about founded by Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation (recognized as a foreign agent and an extremist organization, activity is prohibited in Russia). In October 2022, Navalny informedthat the investigation is also underway under articles on public calls for extremism, financing of extremist activities, and the rehabilitation of Nazism.
The Investigative Committee considered that the FBK was created “with the aim of carrying out extremist activities aimed at changing the foundations of the constitutional order in the Russian Federation, undermining public security and state integrity of the Russian Federation.” In order to support the activities of the FBK, foundations and commercial organizations were created, as well as the Navalny Headquarters public movement (recognized as an extremist organization and banned), investigators claimed. They came to the conclusion that the tasks of the community were to discredit government bodies, destabilize the situation in the regions, create a protest mood among the population and form public opinion about the need for a violent change of power, as well as organizing and conducting protest actions that develop into riots.
Former director of the FBK Ivan Zhdanov (recognized as a foreign agent) claimed that the article about the rehabilitation of Nazism appeared in the Navalny case due to the fact that a photoshopped image of the Motherland-Mother monument, supposedly doused with green paint, was posted on the social networks of one of the headquarters (this happened after how Navalny was doused with brilliant green). The episode about “involving a minor in committing acts endangering the life of a minor” concerned the participation in rallies of people under the age of 18, Zhdanov explained. Raising funds to finance an extremist organization means collecting donations for the work of the FBK, he argued.
zona.media, 08/04/2023, “Ivan Zhdanov said that most of the materials in the Navalny case are screenshots and photographs that are not related to politics”: FBK director Ivan Zhdanov said that the 196 volumes of the “extremist case” of Alexei Navalny consist mainly of screenshots of various social media accounts and photographs that are not related to the oppositionist. In addition, there are repeated pages in the case file. […]
“All 196 volumes are just empty. There is nothing at all that makes sense. They didn’t even try to pretend that they were a real criminal case,” Zhdanov said. According to him, in particular, among the documents there is a sheet with a screenshot of Leonid Volkov’s post on Instagram with a photo of his little daughter. Volkov’s publication with a picture from the airport also got into the case file.
In addition to the publications of Navalny’s associates, according to Zhdanov, the documents contain an “infinite” number of protocols for inspecting Internet resources – “one volume consists almost entirely of photographs of the pages of the Hill online magazine, where there is simply a mention of Alexei Navalny.” On one of the sheets from the case file, there was a screenshot of an empty browser page with the investigator’s bookmarks: “Boiled omelet”, “Vegetable dishes”, “Sewing patterns for overweight”. There are also photographs of a notebook with blank sheets in the file. […] Last year, when Navalny was tried under articles of fraud and contempt of court, Judge Margarita Kotova called up with a member of the presidential administration. — Inset K.ru
Navalny denies all accusations, calling the case political.
Alexei Navalny has been in prison since February 2021. Then he replaced probation for case of Yves Rocher to the real one. He was supposed to be released in the summer of 2023, but in June 2022 a new verdict in the fraud case came into force, according to which Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison strict regime.
In addition, in April of this year, Navalny informedthat a new case was singled out against him in a separate proceeding – this time about terrorism. This case will be heard by a military court.
@topor, 04.08.2023 18:15: Navalny will be released from the colony in 2050, when he will be 74 years old. He will serve his term in a special regime colony – this is the highest measure of punishment in the Russian Federation (maniacs, cannibals and terrorists are imprisoned there). Under what conditions will Navalny sit:
— In a single cell or a cell for 2-4 people with constant light and additional bars on windows and doors. You can’t talk to fellow inmates.
– Without the right to correspondence and visits during the first 10 years of the term.
– Prisoners move around the territory of the colony in a bent position with handcuffs behind their backs under escort of several guards.
– In conditions of limited walks in a closed courtyard. — Inset K.ru