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.



Israel to Collect Soccer Fans from Amsterdam after 5 Injured

In this image taken from video, police escort Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the metro, after pro-Palestinian supporters marched near the soccer stadium, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo InterVision)
In this image taken from video, police escort Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the metro, after pro-Palestinian supporters marched near the soccer stadium, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo InterVision)
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Israel to Collect Soccer Fans from Amsterdam after 5 Injured

In this image taken from video, police escort Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the metro, after pro-Palestinian supporters marched near the soccer stadium, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo InterVision)
In this image taken from video, police escort Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the metro, after pro-Palestinian supporters marched near the soccer stadium, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo InterVision)

Israel was sending two commercial planes to the Netherlands on Friday to repatriate hundreds of Israeli soccer fans after overnight attacks in the streets of Amsterdam that officials described as antisemitic.
Videos on social media showed riot police intervening in clashes, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were "attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks" and that riot police intervened to protect them and escort them to hotels. At least five people were treated in hospital, she said.
Security measures were increased in the city, where hundreds gathered on Thursday to remember Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom against Jews across Germany on Nov. 9-10, 1938.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in the Netherlands since Israel launched its assault on Gaza after the attacks on Israel by the Palestinian Hamas group on Oct. 7, 2023, with many Jewish organizations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the order to send planes was taken after "a very violent incident" targeting Israeli citizens after the match between Maccabi and Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club.
"This is a serious incident, a warning sign for any country that wishes to uphold the values of freedom," it said.
A video verified by Reuters showed a group of men running near Amsterdam central station, chasing and assaulting other men, as police sirens sounded.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he was "horrified by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens", which he called "completely unacceptable".
Schoof said he had assured Netanyahu by phone that "the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted".

Police said there had been incidents before the game, for which roughly 3,000 Maccabi supporters travelled to Amsterdam.
The Israeli embassy in The Hague said mobs had chanted anti-Israel slogans and shared videos of their violence on social media, "kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens".

Police said 62 suspects had been detained after the game as pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the Johan Cruyff Arena, even though the city had forbidden a protest there.

They said fans had left the stadium without incident after the Europa League match, which Ajax won 5-0, but that clashes erupted overnight in the city center.

The Israeli airlines El Al and Arkia said two rescue flights were on the way to Amsterdam.