RUSSIAN COURT ORDERS THE ARREST OF NAVALNY’S WIDOW, YULIA NAVALNAYA

Wed 10 July 2024:

A Moscow court has sentenced Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, to two months in prison. Navalnaya, currently living in exile, has been accused of participating in an “extremist” group, ensuring her arrest if she returns to Russia.

Navalnaya, 47, rose to prominence following her husband’s death in an Arctic penal colony in February. She vowed to continue Navalny’s vision for a “beautiful Russia of the future.”

On Tuesday, she urged her supporters to focus on opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin rather than the court’s decision against her. “Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal,” she wrote on X. “His place is in prison… in the same [penal] colony where he killed Alexey.”

Since her husband’s death, Navalnaya has met with several Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden. Recently named chair of the Human Rights Foundation, she plans to intensify her efforts against Putin’s regime.

Navalnaya left Russia in 2021 and has since resided in Germany. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised her efforts and condemned the court’s ruling as an attack on freedom and democracy.

Russian authorities have not detailed the charges against Navalnaya, but they seem connected to the designation of Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption as an “extremist organization” in 2021. This ruling forced many of Navalny’s associates to flee Russia.

Alexey Navalny was imprisoned upon returning to Moscow in January 2021 after recovering in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning he attributed to the Kremlin. He died at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence. His spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, claimed he was murdered, removing Putin’s most significant political adversary.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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