(Reuters) -Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Thursday he expected to be handed a “Stalinist” sentence extending his existing prison term by about 18 more years.
Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest domestic critic, made the prediction on the eve of a court hearing at which verdicts will be delivered on a battery of new charges against him related to alleged extremist activity.
“It’s going to be a long sentence. What is called ‘Stalinist’,” said Navalny, 47, who is able to post on social media via his supporters and lawyers.
Prosecutors have requested an extra 20 years on the basis of the new charges. Navalny said the severity of the sentence was intended to stun and intimidate Russians, but he urged them not to submit.
“When the sentence is announced, please think about only one, really important thing — what else can I personally do to resist? To stop the villains and thieves in the Kremlin from destroying my country and my future? What can I do, weighing all the risks and taking into account all the circumstances?” he said in his message to supporters.
Navalny is already serving sentences totalling 11-1/2 years on fraud and other charges which he says are bogus, and his political movement has been outlawed and declared “extremist”.
The Kremlin, which makes a point of never speaking Navalny’s name, denies persecuting him and has said it is not even following the case.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alexander Marrow and Mark TrevelyanEditing by Gareth Jones)
