A new trial against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny began Tuesday inside the penal colony outside Moscow where he is held, in a case that could see his jail time extended by more than a decade.
A video link showed Navalny in a prison uniform at the hearing, an AFP journalist reported.
It showed him embracing his wife, Yuliya Navalnaya, while guards stood on either side of them. She had demanded access to the close-door proceedings a day earlier.
Navalny, who has spent a year behind bars after surviving a poison attack that he blames on the Kremlin, is accused of fresh fraud charges.
He is currently serving a two-and-a-half year sentence, but the new charges could see his time behind bars significantly extended.
The hearing of Moscow’s Lefortovsky district court is taking place inside the maximum security prison where he is being held in Pokrov, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Moscow.
The new fraud case against Navalny was launched in December 2020, while the 45-year-old was recovering in Germany after narrowly surviving a nerve agent poisoning.
Investigators accuse Navalny of stealing for personal use more than $4.7 million of donations that were given to his political organisations. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
– ‘Sham trial’ –
Amnesty International described the hearing as a “sham trial, attended by prison guards rather than the media.”
“It’s obvious that the Russian authorities intend to ensure that Navalny doesn’t leave prison any time soon,” it said in a statement Monday.
The start of the trial comes during a week of intense talks between Russia and the West over Ukraine, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz the latest Western leader due in Moscow for talks with Putin.
Navalny allies have called on Scholz to bring up the fate of the politician in his talks with Putin Tuesday.
“Germany stands for peace and justice,” Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter. “And now its stance on this is more important than ever.”
“The trial directly in jail of the number one political prisoner says everything about the Putin regime and the prospects of negotiations with him,” she said.
Maria Pevchikh, another key Navalny ally, suggested that the trial was “purposefully scheduled to coincide with the most tense week of the Ukrainian crisis.”
“They are planning to extend his sentence for another 15 years while everyone’s distracted with something bigger,” she said on Twitter.
Navalny also faces up to six months in prison for contempt of court during one of his hearings last year when he was jailed on old fraud charges.
Navalny’s poisoning and arrest sparked widespread condemnation abroad as well as sanctions from Western capitals.
After his arrest, Navalny’s political organisations across the country were declared “extremist” and shuttered, while many key aides fled Russia fearing prosecution.
