Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to an additional 19 years in a maximum security penal colony for what the U.S. State Department called “unfounded charges of so-called ‘extremism.’”
Navalny responded to the news himself via Twitter, writing, “The number of years does not matter. I perfectly understand that, like many political prisoners, I am sitting on a life sentence.”
The political prisoner, who survived a 2020 assassination attempt that was believed to have been ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, was previously sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.
In a statement to Deadline on Friday, Daniel Roher, who directed the 2022 Oscar-winning documentary “Navalny,” said that the additional sentence is, “very upsetting, but very unsurprising.”
“The regime has taken the approach of what I like to call ‘boiling the frog.’ Instead of just throwing a life sentence at Navalny right out of the gate, they have been systematically giving him additional sentences over the course of many years — this latest sentence, which is coming in at 19 years, being the longest and what I think is the most laughable in terms of what they’re accusing him of,” the director said.
Both the U.S. State Department and European Union issued statements, as well, strongly condemning the sentence. The State Department called it “an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial.”
“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 criticize the regime,” the department’s statement read.
The European Union‘s statement read, “This is a stark indication that the Russian legal system continues to be instrumentalized against Mr Navalny. It also shows how much Russian authorities are afraid of him. Mr. Navalny is yet another example of the continued systematic crackdown by the Russian authorities and their disregard for the human rights of their own citizens.”
