Russia continues to narrow its opposition steps in the country and today announced the opening of a new criminal investigation against imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, this time claiming to have helped fund and organize "extremist groups."
The new political persecution comes after several members of Navalny's organization were imprisoned in recent weeks and the offices of groups run by the opposition man were closed.
Navalny, who is serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence after being convicted of corruption, a conviction condemned by international legal organizations, could face up to a further ten years in prison for the new charges against him.
The investigating authority in Russia has published a message on its website stating that there are several other suspects, members of Navalny's organization, who are also suspected in the case in which the imprisoned opposition member is being investigated.
"The illegal activities of the extremist group are intended to undermine the authority and policy of state authorities, cause regional instability, create an atmosphere of protest among the population and try to promote opinions of need for violent change of government. The extremists also tried to bring mass protest," in Russia.
Meanwhile, Naslani was nominated for the EU Human Rights Prize, after MEPs presented his name at a parliamentary session.
Legislators have noted that Navalny’s struggle to put the values of liberty and democracy at the center of the discourse, despite the terrible personal price he has paid, deserves international praise.
Nablani is imprisoned in a remote penal colony in harsh conditions that caused him a serious health condition.
He was jailed after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated after being poisoned in a failed assassination attempt by the Russian secret service.
Navalny survived the poisoning, which was carried out using military nerve gas of the Novichuk type, and returned to his country even though he knew he would be prosecuted and imprisoned by the Putin regime.
Navalny's conviction led to a mass protest in Russia in which hundreds of thousands of people in different parts of the country participated.
The protest was violently suppressed by police forces and hundreds were arrested and questioned by police and the Secret Service.
