Russia's Navalny Expects 'Stalinist' Sentencing After Verdict On Extremism Charges
Aleksei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link from prison during a court hearing in Moscow.
A verdict is expected on August 4 in the extremism trial of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who is already serving a nine-year prison sentence on embezzlement charges that he and his allies say are politically motivated.
Navalny, 47, has said he expects to be given a "Stalinist term" that could keep him incarcerated for decades.
Navalny issued a statement through his supporters that was published on the Meduza website a day before his scheduled sentencing, saying he expects "it's going to be a huge term."
The 47-year-old Navalny said that the formula for calculating his sentence was simple and would involve “taking what the prosecutor asked for on July 20 -- 20 years -- and reducing it by 10 to 15 percent.”
"This is what's called a 'Stalinist' term. They asked for 20 years so they will give 18 or something around it. It doesn't really matter.... Its main purpose is to frighten," said Navalny, who has been in prison since February 2021 serving a combined 11 1/2-year sentence on previous convictions called politically motivated.
The prosecutors also asked for 10 years for co-defendant Daniel Kholodny.
Aleksei Navalny: A Life Of Politics, Protest, And Prison Time
1/24In the span of a decade, Aleksei Navalny (pictured in 2010), opposition leader, corporate lawyer, and anti-corruption activist, went from the Kremlin's biggest foe to Russia's most prominent political prisoner.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
2/24Navalny looks out of the window of his cell in Moscow in December 2011. He was sentenced to 15 days of detention for "resisting law enforcement officers." It was the first of what would later become regular occurrences.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
3/24Navalny (left) was detained by police during a Moscow rally on March 5, 2012, after Vladimir Putin was declared to have won the presidential election.
Navalny described Putin's party, United Russia, as "the party of crooks and thieves."
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
4/24Jubilant supporters embrace Navalny in May 2012 after he and left-wing politician Sergei Udaltsov were released from detention after serving a 15-day sentence for "participating in an illegal public event" in Moscow. The two were arrested as they protested Putin's inauguration.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
5/24In December 2012, Navalny was apprehended during an unapproved rally in the heart of Moscow. Opposition figures claimed that they were detained to prevent them from participating in a protest against Putin.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
6/24Navalny and his wife, Yulia, sit together after a court hearing as a supporter with a poster reading "For Navalny" looks on in the northwestern city of Kirov on May 16, 2013.
Accused of embezzlement, Navalny insisted the charges were revenge for his exposure of high-level government corruption and for his campaigns against Putin.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
7/24The couple travels from Kirov to Moscow on a train on July 20, 2013, when he was released after receiving a suspended sentence on the embezzlement charge.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
8/24Navalny and his brother and co-defendant, Oleg, attend a court hearing in Moscow on December 30, 2014, in a separate embezzlement case. The court ruled that Navalny be given a suspended sentence but jailed Oleg for 3 1/2 years.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
9/24Navalny tries to get up after he and his associates were attacked by a group of Cossacks at the Anapa airport in southern Russia in May 2016.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
10/24Navalny moments after he was attacked by an unidentified assailant who splashed him with a green antiseptic liquid known as zelyonka outside of a meeting in Moscow on April 27, 2017.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
11/24Yulia, Navalny's wife, tends to him after the attack. He suffered burns to his eyes.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
12/24The couple celebrates as he is nominated for the presidential election race in Moscow on December 24, 2017. Navalny ran a yearlong grassroots campaign and staged waves of rallies to push the Kremlin to let him run.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
13/24Navalny heads to Russia's Central Election Commission in Moscow on December 25, 2017.
Navalny was disqualified from running due to his criminal conviction. The move was widely perceived as politically motivated.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
14/24Police detain Navalny on June 12, 2019, during a rally in support of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, who was arrested and accused of drug possession.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
15/24A visibly unwell Navalny, his eyes red and puffy, sits on a hospital bed in Moscow on July 29, 2019, while serving a 30-day prison term on charges of calling an unauthorized protest. He said he believed he'd been poisoned, but doctors attributed his illness to an "acute allergic reaction."
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
16/24Navalny and his family pose for a photo after voting during a city-council election in Moscow on September 8, 2019. Navalny claimed that the Russian government had frozen all of his bank accounts, as well as those of his wife, his two children, and his elderly parents.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
17/24Ivan Zhdanov(left), Lyubov Sobol(center), and Navalny take part in a rally to mark the fifth anniversary of the killing of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov outside the Kremlin walls in 2015 and to protest against proposed amendments to the constitution in Moscow on February 29, 2020.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
18/24A person watches a video showing Navalny being carried on a stretcher by an ambulance team in Omsk after falling gravely ill from suspected poisoning while aboard a flight from Tomsk to Moscow on August 20, 2020.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
19/24Navalny poses for a picture with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital on September 15, 2020.
German doctors who treated Navalny announced that he had been poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, a deadly chemical weapon. Navalny spent weeks in a medically induced coma.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
20/24Navalny is surrounded by journalists inside the plane in Berlin prior to his flight to Moscow on January 17, 2021.
After recovering from his poisoning, Navalny decided to return to Russia. Upon arrival in Moscow, he was detained on charges of violating the terms of his probation by leaving the country without permission.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
21/24Navalny makes the heart symbol during a hearing at the city court in Moscow on February 2, 2021. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
22/24People draw hearts with their cell-phone flashlights in support of Navalny in Moscow in February 2021. Opposition leaders urged people to shine their flashlights in a sign of solidarity with Navalny as the country experienced several weekends of nationwide protests.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
23/24Navalny appears via video link in a Moscow courtroom on May 24, 2022.
Lawyer Vadim Kobzev said on July 21, 2023, that Navalny was sent to solitary confinement for 13 days for "improperly introducing himself to a guard." It was his 17th time in a punitive solitary confinement cell since August 2022. A day earlier, prosecutors requested that the court sentence him to another 20 years on charges including extremism.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
24/24Aleksei Navalny (second from left) listens as the guilty verdict against him is read out on August 4, 2023. He was sentenced to 19 years in Russia's harshest prison regime.
He was convicted under six articles of the Criminal Code, including creating and financing an extremist community, calling for extremism, rehabilitating Nazism, and involving minors in dangerous acts.
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been jailed more than 10 times since 2011 and, until August 4, 2023, was serving prison terms of nine years and 2 1/2 years. On August 4, he was sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security “special regime” prison.
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The Kremlin critic and anti-corruption crusader is accused under six articles of the Criminal Code, including creating and financing an extremist community, calling for extremism, rehabilitating Nazism, and involving minors in dangerous acts.
The case deals with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which, at the request of the prosecutor's office, was declared extremist in 2021, banning all of its activities in Russia.
Navalny previously said on social media that he expected a sentence of 15 years to 20 years, despite what he claims to be "nonsensical" evidence presented during his closed-door trial.
In his opinion, a harsh sentence is necessary to intimidate hm and his supporters.
"By the severity of the sentence, the thoughts of opposition are knocked out of my head," he said, calling for his supporters to stay calm.
He added that his supporters should take the repression against him and his supporters "coolly" and continue to fight the Russian authorities in some way "from transferring money to going to rallies."
Navalny also expressed gratitude to his supporters, lawyers, and defense witnesses, and separately he thanked Kholodny, a former Navalny Live employee. According to Navalny, Kholodny "does not let himself be intimidated," and he encouraged his supporters to "be the same."
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