Russia wants Kremlin critic Navalny in jail for 20 years

Russian prosecutors on Thursday (July 20) requested a jail sentence of 20 years for Putin-critic Alexei Navalny. He is already in jail. Navalny is the most prominent critic of the Russian government and has denounced Russia's "senseless war" in his last statement to the court.

The case is being heard in court when Russia is more than a year into its full-scale offensive against Ukraine. After the invasion began, there was an unprecedented crackdown on the Kremlin's critics, many of whom are now in jail.

Navalny has been accused of links with extremist elements. It is expected that a verdict over the case would come on August 4.

As the prosecutors' announcement came, the European Union added the chief of the Russian prison camp holding Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to its sanctions list.

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Navalny's trial has been held behind closed doors at the maximum security prison where he is jailed. The IK-6 penal colony, where Navalny is being held, is some 250 kilometres east of Russian capital Moscow.

Navalny (47), who has in past mobilised massive anti-Kremlin protests is now serving a nine-year prison sentence on embezzlement charges. His supporters see this as a punishment for Navalny's political work.

He was arrested in 2021 on his arrival in Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Navalny's health problems

Navalny has complained of health problems. He has also experienced major weight loss since being jailed in a strict regime penal colony.

Prosecutors on Thursday asked for Navalny to serve his additional sentence in an even more restrictive, special regime prison.

Navalny faces charges of financing extremist activity, publicly inciting extremist activities and "rehabilitating the Nazi ideology," among other offences. 

His team has said that while Navalny has been the target of multiple lawsuits, the present case is first formal politocal case against him.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has cracked down on freedoms in Russia.

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Russia is "floundering in a pool of either mud or blood, with broken bones, with a poor and robbed population, and around it lie tens of thousands of people killed in the most stupid and senseless war of the 21st century," Navalny said. 

Media reports say that thousands of Russians have been detained because they held protests against the Ukraine invasion. Most high-profile activists still in Russia like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin are behind bars.

Navalny too has made his voice against Ukraine offensive heard from behind the bars. He communicates with the outside world through his legal team.

(With inputs from agencies)

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