Alexei Navalny urges Russians to keep resisting Kremlin, after trial sentences him to 19 years’ jail

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged Russians to keep resisting the Kremilin after a new trial sentenced him to 19 years’ prison.

Alexei Navalny (left) as he waits to listen to his verdict over a series of extremism charges at a maximum-security prison some 250km east of Moscow. Picture: AFP

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has urged Russians to keep resisting the Kremlin after a Russian court sentenced him to 19 years in prison in a new trial.

“They want to frighten you, not me, and deprive you of the will to resist,” he said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“You are being forced to surrender your Russia without a fight to a gang of traitors, thieves and scoundrels who have seized power … Don’t lose the will to resist.”

The heavy sentence against Navalny, who had mobilised the largest protests against President Vladimir Putin, comes amid a historic crackdown on dissenting voices as Moscow’s assault on Ukraine stretches into its second year.

AFP journalists watching the court session held on Friday (Saturday AEST) at Navalny’s prison said the 47-year-old looked emaciated but relaxed.

He smiled as the judge read the verdict and hugged another defendant before the grainy transmission cut.

A screen shows Alexei Navalny (second left) as he listens to his verdict over a series of extremism charges at the IK-6 penal colony. Picture: AFP

A masked law enforcement officer in grey camouflage gear and a flak jacket stood in front of the audience room.

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said the new sentence would take into account the around 2½ years the politician had already served as well as a 10-month house arrest in 2014-2015.

“The number of years does not matter,” Navalny said.

“I perfectly understand that, like many political prisoners, I am serving a life sentence. Where life is measured by the length of my life or the longevity of this regime.”

Navalny was arrested and jailed in 2021 after arriving in Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack he blames on the Kremlin, one which sparked international condemnation.

Before his new conviction, he was serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security prison for “embezzlement”, a charge his supporters say was trumped up in retaliation for challenging Putin.

International condemnation quickly followed the sentencing on Friday.

“The United States condemns a Russian court’s further sentencing and conviction of opposition politician and anti-corruption campaigner Aleksey Navalny,” the US State Department said in a statement.

“For years, the Kremlin has attempted to silence Navalny and prevent his calls for transparency and accountability from reaching the Russian people.

“By conducting this latest trial in secret and limiting his lawyers’ access to purported evidence, Russian authorities illustrated yet again both the baselessness of their case and the lack of due process afforded to those who dare to criticise the regime.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on social media that “The Kremlin cannot silence the truth. Navalny should be released.”

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also weighed in.

“His abuse shows Russia’s complete disregard for even the most basic of human rights,” Cleverly said.

Germany slammed the ruling as “pure injustice”, an EU chief denounced the verdict as “unacceptable”, and the UN rights head urged Russia to release the jailed opposition politician “immediately”.

Navalny had said on Thursday he expected the court to hand him a lengthy, “Stalinist” prison sentence.

“Please consider and realise that by jailing hundreds, Putin is trying to intimidate millions,” he said.

Navalny has built a huge following on social media, where he has posted videos exposing alleged corruption among Russia’s elite and mobilised massive anti-government protests.

Prosecutors said Navalny created an organisation that undermined public security by carrying out “extremist activities”.

His Anti-Corruption Foundation, which investigates graft among Russian officials, was banned for extremism in 2021.

Most of his close allies have fled the country.

Since launching full-scale hostilities against Ukraine last year, Moscow has ramped up its crackdown on critics, pushing top members of the country’s beleaguered opposition abroad.

Navalny’s last days before the verdict were spent in a punishment cell where he has been regularly sent for minor infringements of prison rules, according to his team.