Former movement coordinator Alexei Navalny sentenced to nine years in prison
Former movement coordinator Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of “extremism,” according to a team from Russia’s most prominent opposition.
Vadim Ostanin, who headed Navalny’s team headquarters in the Siberian city of Barnaul in the Altai Territory, was charged with “participation in an extremist organization.”
In June 2021, the Russian judiciary classified Alexei Navalny’s organizations as “extremist”, criminalizing his supporters and forcing dozens of them to flee the country to avoid jail time.
In December 2021, Ostanin, who preferred to stay in Russia, was arrested along with four other former employees of Navalny’s organization.
Opposition team accuses authorities of targeting Vadim Ustanin for political activity
And the opposition team pointed out today, on Monday, that “Vadim Ustanin was prosecuted for legal political activity … spoke about corrupt people and helped the inhabitants of the Altai Territory to force officials to work.”
Investigators pressured Ustinin to sign a confession in exchange for questioning his relatives while he was in custody, but he refused to confess, according to what Navalny’s move confirmed.
In a letter, Vadim Ostanin said that he was being held in an unsanitary cell in Barnaul. According to Navalny’s team, Ostanin lost 15 kilograms in prison and suffers from back and head pains.
Oppositionist Navalny, who was sentenced in 2022 to nine years in prison for “fraud,” faces a new sentence in August that could amount to an additional 20 years in prison.
