Jailed Russian opposition politician Navalny gets 19 more years in prison

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced on Friday to an additional 19 years in prison after being found guilty on a series of new charges, Navalny’s supporters revealed on social media. In a video feed from a court hearing at a penal colony east of Moscow, Navalny could be seen wearing a black prison uniform and standing with his arms folded as he listened to the verdict. The audio feed from the court was so poor that it was practically impossible to make out what the judge was saying. Navalny, the most prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, is already serving 11-1/2 years in the penal colony on charges including fraud that he says were trumped up to silence him. He is one of Russia’s most well-known opposition leaders. He had predicted on the eve of the verdict that he would receive a “Stalinist” sentence of about 18 more years. And it turned out that he got an additional 19 years in prison along with his ongoing term. The battery of new charges is linked to alleged extremist activity by the 47-year-old politician.