Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Has 19 Years Added to His Jail Term

 Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny appears on a screen via video link as he shakes hands with his lawyer Vadim Kobzev before an external hearing of the Moscow City Court in the criminal case against Navalny on numerous charges, including the creation of an extremist organization, at the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, Russia, August 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny appears on a screen via video link as he shakes hands with his lawyer Vadim Kobzev before an external hearing of the Moscow City Court in the criminal case against Navalny on numerous charges, including the creation of an extremist organization, at the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, Russia, August 4, 2023. (Reuters)
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Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Has 19 Years Added to His Jail Term

 Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny appears on a screen via video link as he shakes hands with his lawyer Vadim Kobzev before an external hearing of the Moscow City Court in the criminal case against Navalny on numerous charges, including the creation of an extremist organization, at the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, Russia, August 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny appears on a screen via video link as he shakes hands with his lawyer Vadim Kobzev before an external hearing of the Moscow City Court in the criminal case against Navalny on numerous charges, including the creation of an extremist organization, at the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, Russia, August 4, 2023. (Reuters)

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny had an extra 19 years added to his jail term on Friday in a criminal case which he and his supporters said was trumped up to keep him behind bars and out of politics for even longer.

Navalny, 47, President Vladimir Putin's fiercest domestic critic, is already serving sentences totaling 11-1/2 years on fraud and other charges that he says are also bogus. His political movement has been outlawed and declared "extremist".

A court at the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, about 235 km (145 miles) east of Moscow where he is serving his sentences, was trying him on Friday on six separate criminal charges, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organization.

The audio feed from the court was so poor that it was practically impossible to make out what the judge was saying.

Navalny's team said the judge had added 19 years to his sentences as a result of the new charges. State prosecutors had asked the court to hand him another 20 years in a penal colony.

Dressed in his dark prison uniform and flanked by his lawyers, Navalny smiled at times as he listened to the judge.

In a message posted on social media a day earlier Navalny had predicted he would get a long jail term, but had said it didn't really matter because he was also threatened with separate terrorism charges that could bring another decade.

Navalny had said the purpose of giving him extra jail time was to frighten Russians, but had urged them not to let that happen and to think hard about how best to resist what he called the "villains and thieves in the Kremlin".

The charges relate to his role in his now defunct movement inside Russia, which the authorities said had been trying to foment a revolution by seeking to destabilize the socio-political situation.



Netanyahu Prepares Grounds to Dismiss Chief of Staff

Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)
Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)
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Netanyahu Prepares Grounds to Dismiss Chief of Staff

Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)
Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)

After the successful ousting of his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing the grounds to dismiss Army chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, reports in Tel Aviv revealed.
The PM’s intentions were visible through a series of preliminary measures. In a nine-minute video statement posted to social media on Saturday, Netanyahu claimed the ongoing investigation into the alleged theft and leak of classified documents, including by his aides, aimed at harming him and “an entire political camp.”
He then asserted that vital classified documents weren’t reaching him. “I am the prime minister. I need to receive important classified documents, and indeed sometimes important information doesn’t reach me.”
Netanyahu then defended his former spokesman Eli Feldstein, who is accused of leaking a classified document in a bid to sway public opinion against a truce-hostage deal in Gaza.
Last Thursday, Feldstein was charged with transferring classified information with the intent to harm the state.
The PM considered accusations against his spokesman as a “witch hunt” against his aides and Israelis who support him.
For the past 14 years, the Israeli right had run a large-scale incitement campaign against the security services. But in the last year, this camp increased its attack, particularly against the Chief of Staff, Halevi, who believes it is necessary to stop the war and ink a deal with Hamas.
The right-wing “Mida” website published a report entitled “Herzi Halevi’s Political Sabotage,” describing the man’s “rising against the Israeli political leadership.”
The report said Halevi's inappropriate behavior started during the first weeks of the war when the Army announced it was “ready for a ground attack,” accusing Netanyahu of delaying such an operation.
Mida then listed several other instances in which it described Netanyahu as a great leader who ordered strong attacks and deep military operations. It then accused the army of refraining from following his orders.
The report concludes that the “freeing of hostages file was the straw that broke the camel's back.”
In an April 2024 speech marking the six-month anniversary of the war, Halevi has said that it is time to end the war in Gaza and reach a prisoner swap deal with Hamas, while Netanyahu took a hardline stance, refusing to compromise on what he called “red lines.”
The Madi website also criticized Halevi for saying that the government was responsible for ordering the army of again operating in Jabalia, a decision that resulted in significant Israeli casualties.
“Halevi should have been dismissed as soon as the government was formed, and this was Netanyahu's mistake. But it is not too late to fix it. You can't win wars with rebel chiefs of staff,” the website wrote.