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.



Prince William Reflects on 'Brutal' Year as Kate Returns to Public Life

Catherine said in September that she had completed her chemotherapy and was looking forward to undertaking more engagements 'when I can'. Danny Lawson / POOL/AFP
Catherine said in September that she had completed her chemotherapy and was looking forward to undertaking more engagements 'when I can'. Danny Lawson / POOL/AFP
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Prince William Reflects on 'Brutal' Year as Kate Returns to Public Life

Catherine said in September that she had completed her chemotherapy and was looking forward to undertaking more engagements 'when I can'. Danny Lawson / POOL/AFP
Catherine said in September that she had completed her chemotherapy and was looking forward to undertaking more engagements 'when I can'. Danny Lawson / POOL/AFP

Her attendance at the events in London are the first time that Catherine, who is widely known as Kate, will be at a major royal occasion since ending chemotherapy.
Buckingham Palace's announcement came as her husband Prince William described the past year in which both Kate and his father battled cancer as "brutal" and probably the "hardest" of his life, said AFP.
Charles, 75, will lead the royal family at two of the most important events in the royal calendar -- Saturday evening's Festival of Remembrance commemorative concert and Sunday's ceremony at the Cenotaph war memorial.
Senior royals traditionally attend the solemn wreath-laying at the monument near parliament alongside political leaders, current and former members of the armed forces, including war veterans.
But the presence of Charles's wife Queen Camilla, 77, has not yet been confirmed after she withdrew from engagements earlier this week due to a chest infection.
Her attendance would be subject to medical advice nearer the time, the palace said.
William, 42, on Thursday revealed how he had coped since both illnesses were announced.
"Honestly, it's been dreadful. It's probably been the hardest year in my life," he told reporters at the end of a four-day visit to South Africa for his Earthshot prize initiative.
"So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult."
The palace in February announced that Charles had been diagnosed with an undisclosed cancer and would withdraw from public life to undergo treatment.
The following month Kate, also 42, revealed that she too had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
Both have since made limited returns to public duties, although head of state Charles, who recently toured Australia and Samoa, is still undergoing treatment.
'Crack on'
Catherine said in September that she had completed her chemotherapy and was looking forward to undertaking more engagements "when I can".
"I'm so proud of my wife, I'm proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done," William added.
"But from a personal family point of view, it's been, yeah, it's been brutal," he said.
This year's awards ceremony for William's Earthshot prize was held in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The initiative honors projects seeking novel solutions to the challenges facing the world's nature and climate.
William is also committed to a five-year program, Homewards, launched by his philanthropic foundation to tackle homelessness in the UK.
When told he appeared relaxed, William said he "couldn't be less relaxed this year".
"It's more a case of just crack on and you've got to keep going," he said.
"I enjoy my work and I enjoy pacing myself, and keeping sure that I have got time for my family too," he added.
He and Kate have three children together: Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and six-year-old Prince Louis.
In addition to health problems, the royal family has this year faced continuing tensions surrounding William's estranged brother Harry.
Harry's ties with his family have been increasingly fraught since he and wife Meghan quit royal life and moved to California in 2020.
William and Harry used to be close -- a bond that was forged with the death of their mother Princess Diana in 1997. But according to British media reports, they have not spoken to each other in two years.