MELEKHOVO, Russia (AP) — Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Monday urged his supporters to launch a broad campaign against Moscow’s crackdown on Ukraine while he faces trial on fresh extremism charges that could keep him behind bars for decades.
The trial began at a maximum-security penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers east of Moscow, where Navalny, 47, is serving a nine-year sentence on charges of fraud and contempt of court – which he says are politically motivated. Shortly after it began, the judge closed the trial, although Navalny requested that the trial be kept open.
In a statement released by his allies on social media, Navalny said the decision to end the trial was a sign of President Vladimir Putin’s fear and announced the start of a campaign against Moscow’s decision to allocate troops to Ukraine send.
Navalny said the effort needed to reach millions to explain the disastrous effects of the fighting and “fight Putin’s lies and the Kremlin’s hypocrisy.” He argued that despite a relentless crackdown on dissenters, such a campaign could be efficiently carried out via messaging apps that are beyond the authorities’ control.
“No one but us could enter this battle for the hearts and minds of our citizens, so we must do it and win,” Navalny said.
Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organized large anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 after returning to Moscow after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning which he blamed on the Kremlin.
Navalny, dressed in his prison garb, appeared gaunt at the session but spoke emphatically about the state’s weakness and gesticulated vigorously.
Navalny said the new extremism allegations, which he dismissed as “absurd”, could keep him in prison for another 30 years. He said an investigator told him he faces a separate military trial on terrorism charges, which could carry a life sentence.
The Moscow City Court, which opened the hearing in Penal Colony No. 6, did not allow reporters into the courtroom, but followed the proceedings via video transmission from a separate building. Navalny’s parents were also denied access to the court and followed the hearing remotely.
Navalny and his lawyers urged the judge to hold a public trial, arguing that authorities were keen to suppress details of the trial to cover up the case’s weaknesses.
“The investigators, the prosecutors and the authorities in general do not want the public to know about the process,” said Navalny.
Prosecutor Nadezhda Tikhonova, citing security concerns, asked the judge to conduct the trial behind closed doors. The judge agreed and the reporters were ordered to leave the premises.
Asked about the decision to end the trial, Navalny’s father Anatoly told reporters it showed “the complete lack of shame, conscience and dignity”.
Russia’s state news agencies and other media reported on the trial, but the most watched state-controlled TV channels did not cover it.
The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top employees. His allies said the indictment retroactively criminalizes all activities of the Navalny Foundation since its inception in 2011.
One of Navalny’s associates, Daniel Kholodny, was transferred from another prison to stand alongside him in court.
Navalny spent months in a tiny, one-person cell, also called a “punishment cell,” for alleged disciplinary violations, such as not buttoning his prison uniform properly, not properly introducing himself to a warden, or not washing his face for the stated time.
Navalny’s staff and supporters have accused the prison authorities of failing to provide him with adequate medical care and have expressed concern about his health.
At the start of Navalny’s trial, the Prosecutor General’s Office declared the Bulgaria-based human rights group Agora an “undesirable” organization. The group was said to pose a “threat to the constitutional order and national security” by accusing human rights abuses and providing legal aid to members of the opposition movement.
For similar reasons, the Russian authorities have banned dozens of domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations.
In Berlin, the federal government criticized the trial against Navalny and reiterated its call for his immediate release.
“In the case of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, the Russian authorities are always looking for new excuses to extend his detention,” government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner told reporters.
“The German government continues to demand the immediate release of Navalny from the Russian authorities,” he added. “Navalny’s detention is based on a politically motivated judgment, as the European Court of Human Rights found back in 2017.”
Asked whether Germany could provide assistance to Navalny or observe the trial, State Department spokesman Christian Wagner said German officials were doing what they could “on the few channels that are available to us,” but conceded that this is “currently very difficult” given the current status of relations with Russia.
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Associated Press Author Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this.