An associate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to nine years in prison in the Kremlin’s latest crackdown on dissent.
Key points:
- Ksenia Fadeyeva was convicted on charges of organising an extremist group
- Her case is the latest in a string of convictions of regional activists linked to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
- Ms Fadeyeva’s lawyers plan to appeal the verdict
Ksenia Fadeyeva — a regional legislator who headed a local branch of Navalny’s organisation in the Siberian city of Tomsk — was convicted on charges of organising an extremist group.
Her lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, arguing that Ms Fadeyeva had ended her involvement with Mr Navalny’s organisation before the authorities labelled it extremist in 2021.
Mr Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, hailed Ms Fadeyeva as “honest and brave,” saying on X that those who fabricated the criminal case against her would eventually face punishment.
Mr Navalny, the most prominent rival of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is currently serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism.
Earlier this month, he went missing for several weeks until his lawyers announced Monday that he had been moved from a prison in central Russia to a remote Arctic prison colony known for its harsh conditions.
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Mr Navalny has been behind bars in Russia since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption and organised major anti-Kremlin protests.
A Moscow court outlawed Mr Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and about 40 regional offices as extremist in June 2021.
His political network was shut down and many of his close associates and team members were forced to leave Russia. Those who stayed have faced prosecution.
Ms Fadeyeva’s case is the latest in a string of convictions of regional activists linked to Mr Navalny’s work.
Lilia Chanysheva, who headed Mr Navalny’s headquarters in the central Russian city of Ufa, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on similar charges in June.
Vadim Ostanin, who previously headed Mr Navalny’s office in the southern Siberian city of Barnaul, was handed a nine-year sentence in July on charges of organising an extremist community.
And in October, authorities detained three lawyers representing Mr Navalny in what his associates described as part of Kremlin efforts to completely isolate him.
Mr Navalny’s associate Leonid Volkov has said that he prodded Ms Fadeyeva to leave Russia amid the crackdown, but she refused, citing her obligations to voters.
She has been in custody since her arrest in November.
AP