Key Points
- Jailed Kremlin critic could face life in prison on "terrorism" charges.
- Russian authorities have placed citizens in prison for even minor acts of dissent since the war in Ukraine began.
- Another opposition figure Yevgeny Roizman faces up to five years in prison over accusations of discrediting the Russian army.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said he could face life in prison on "terrorism" charges while another popular opposition politician went on trial in Russia's escalating clampdown on dissent.
Authorities are taking the crackdown on freedoms in Russia to new levels over a year into Moscow's assault on Ukraine, with independent media shut down and most key opposition figures behind bars or in exile.
Mr Navalny's team says authorities are preparing a major new trial against the arch-foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"They have brought absurd charges against me, according to which I am facing up to 35 years," said Mr Navalny, who wore his prison uniform and appeared gaunt but defiant.
Mr Navalny, 46, said that within the framework of the new extremism case he was told he would be separately judged by a military tribunal over "terrorism" charges.
He said he could face life in prison.
Last October, Mr Navalny said that investigators had launched a new criminal case against him on allegations of "extremism" and "terrorism" and "rehabilitating the Nazi ideology".
The court gave Mr Navalny until 5 May to read the 196 tomes of materials comprising the extremism case, his team said.
Mr Navalny's spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said a new major trial against the opposition politician was expected to begin before the end of May.
'Mind-boggling'
Then he is expected to face a separate trial on "terrorism" charges, Ms Yarmysh said on social media.
She called the appearance of the new case while Mr Navalny was behind bars "mind-boggling".
Mr Navalny, who used to mobilise massive protests against the Kremlin, is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence on embezzlement and other charges.
Mr Navalny's team says he has been harassed in prison and kept in a "punishment cell" for minor transgressions.
This month his team said the opposition politician had lost eight kilograms in just over two weeks and suggested this could be the result of slow poisoning.
Despite his ordeal, Mr Navalny joked during the hearing on Wednesday, saying he was surprised to see "so many people".
"I turned a little feral in the punishment cell," he quipped, grinning broadly.
He shot to global prominence after he barely survived a poisoning with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent, which the opposition politician blames on the Kremlin.
He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany after recovering from the poisoning attack.
'Clear' outcome
The Russian government branded his organisation as "extremist", which facilitated the prosecution of supporters.
A court on Wednesday requested 12 years imprisonment for Lilia Chanysheva, a former regional coordinator of Mr Navalny's political group in the central city of Ufa.
More than 1,500 kilometres to the east of Moscow, Mr Navalny's friend and popular former mayor Yevgeny Roizman went on trial in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
Mr Roizman is Russia's last prominent opposition figure who is still in the country and not behind bars.
Russian opposition figure Yevgeny Roizman is on trial in Yekaterinburg, facing up to five years in prison over accusations of discrediting the Russian army. Source: Getty / Alexei Vladykin
Mr Roizman pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial in Yekaterinburg, according to a live YouTube broadcast of the hearing.
Asked by the judge if he admitted his guilt, Mr Roizman said "no".
Speaking to journalists after the hearing, he said with a smile, "It is clear where this is going."
The trial was adjourned until 10 May.
