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Prosecution requests 20 years in maximum security colony for Navalny in “extremist case”

The Insider

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According to Alexei Navalny's Twitter account, the prosecution has demanded a 20-year imprisonment in a high-security correctional facility for him in relation to the “extremist case.” His co-defendant, Daniel Kholodny, is facing a 10-year sentence in a minimum security penal colony.

As of now, Navalny is already serving a 9-year term for previous convictions. Consequently, the trial for the significant “extremist case” is taking place in a courtroom at Penal Colony No. 6 in Vladimir.

Navalny is facing charges under six articles of Russia's Criminal Code: incitement to extremism, creation of an NGO violating citizens' rights, financing extremism, forming an extremist community, involving minors in dangerous activities, and rehabilitation of Nazism.

Shortly after the trial began, public access to the proceedings was promptly restricted, resulting in limited information being disclosed. However, it was reported on social media that the defense's witnesses in Navalny's case included convicted politicians Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Lilia Chanysheva, along with the former coordinator of Navalny's headquarters in Barnaul, Vadim Ostanin, whose final judgment is still pending. Alexey Venediktov, the chief editor of Echo of Moscow radio station, wrote that other defense witnesses comprised the former mayor of Yekaterinburg, Yevgeny Roizman, and Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Furthermore, some case-related materials were published in Navalny's Telegram channel. Among them was the lyrics of a song titled “Navalny Lyoha,” performed by the rapper Morgenstern, who has been recognized as a foreign agent in Russia. Other materials included a record of a cryptocurrency transfer from a wallet named “PutinHuj” (translated as “PutinDick”) and others.