Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny says he faces 15 more years

Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny said on Tuesday that Russian authorities have brought a new charge against him.

In a series of posts on Twitter, Navalny said: "It turns out that I created an extremist group in order to incite hatred towards officials and oligarchs," Navalny's post read. "And when they put me in jail, I dared to be disgruntled about it and called for rallies. For that, they're supposed to add up to 15 more years to my sentence," he said.

Charge comes a week after failed appeal

"Not even eight days have passed since my nine-year high-security sentence came into force, and today the investigator showed up again and formally charged me with a new case," Navalny said on Twitter.

Last week a Russian court rejected Navalny's appeal against his nine-year prison sentence for fraud, meaning a transfer from a penal colony to a high-security prison for serious criminals.

Russian authorities have not given immediate confirmation of the new charges.

Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon his return from Germany, where he had been recuperating since the summer of 2020 after being poisoned by a nerve agent — an incident he blames on the Kremlin. 

Russian authorities said the six months of recovery abroad violated the terms of a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence for the misappropriation of funds.

Putin's power must end 'as soon as possible'— Navalny's spokeswoman

Navalny's spokesperson Kira Yarmish expressed strong views on Putin's future as president, tweeting: "Putin will not release Alexei as long as he is in power. Therefore, our task is to make sure that his power ends as soon as possible." 

The various criminal cases brought against Navalny have been condemned by rights groups and Western governments, who have also been critical of the Kremlin's clampdown on internal dissent, before and after the invasion of Ukraine.

kb/msh (AP, Reuters)