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Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny given 19 more years behind bars
for extremism conviction
Sentence is Navalny's 3rd and longest prison term
The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 04, 2023 7:29 AM PDT |
Putin critic Alexei Navalny sentenced to 19 additional years in prison
A Russian court convicted imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on charges of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in prison Friday. Navalny is already serving a nine-year term on a variety of charges that he says were politically motivated. Read more: www.cbc.ca/1.6927768
A Russian court convicted imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on charges of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in prison Friday. Navalny is already serving a nine-year term on a variety of charges that he says were politically motivated.
The new charges related to the activities of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. It was his fifth criminal conviction and the third and longest prison term handed to him, all of which his supporters see as a deliberate Kremlin strategy to silence its most ardent opponent. It wasn't immediately clear whether he would serve this new term concurrently with his current sentence on charges of fraud and contempt of court.
The prosecution had demanded a 20-year prison sentence, and the politician himself said beforehand that he expected to receive a lengthy term.
Navalny was also sentenced in 2021 to 2½ years in prison for a parole violation. The extremism trial took place behind closed doors in the penal colony east of Moscow where he is imprisoned.
Navalny aide suspects Russian opposition leader being poisoned in prison
Navalny appeared in the courtroom Friday afternoon, wearing prison garb and looking gaunt, but with a defiant smile on his face. As the judge read out the verdict, the politician stood alongside his lawyers and his co-defendant with his arms crossed, listening with a serious expression on his face.
It took the judge less than 10 minutes to announce the verdict and the sentence — something that in Russia usually takes hours and even days.
The U.S. State Department condemned the results as "an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial" in a statement, and again called for Navalny's immediate release.
"For years, the Kremlin has attempted to silence Navalny and prevent his calls for transparency and accountability from reaching the Russian people," said Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson. "By conducting this latest trial in secret and limiting his lawyers' access to purported evidence, Russian authorities illustrated yet again both the baselessness of their case and the lack of due process afforded to those who dare to criticize the regime."
Praises employee also on trial
The 47-year-old Navalny is President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe and has exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Navalny's allies said the extremism charges retroactively criminalized all of the anti-corruption foundation's activities since its creation in 2011. In 2021, Russian authorities outlawed the foundation and the vast network of Navalny's offices in Russian regions as extremist organizations, exposing anyone involved to possible prosecution.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, second from left, is seen on a TV screen standing with his lawyers, as he appears via video link during a court hearing in a penal colony in Melekhovo, Vladimir region, about 260 kilometres northeast of Moscow on Friday. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/The Associated Press)
One of Navalny's associates, Daniel Kholodny, stood trial alongside him after being relocated from a different prison. It wasn't immediately clear what sentence was handed to Kholodny.
Navalny rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life.
On the eve of the verdict hearing, Navalny released a statement on social media, presumably through his team, in which he said he expected his latest sentence to be "huge … a Stalinist term." Under the wartime Soviet totalitarian leader Joseph Stalin, millions of people were branded "enemies of the state," jailed and sometimes executed in what became known as the "Great Terror."
In his statement, Navalny called on Russians to "personally" resist and encouraged them to support political prisoners, distribute flyers or go to a rally. He told Russians that they could choose a safe way to resist, but he added that "there is shame in doing nothing. It's shameful to let yourself be intimidated."
He praised Kholodny, who helped out with his social media communications, as "my main person inspiration in this process" and "a 25-year-old guy who accidentally got into this meat grinder."
Supporters gather
The politician is currently serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison — Penal Colony No. 6 in the town of Melekhovo, about 230 kilometres east of Moscow.
He has spent months in a tiny one-person cell, also called a "punishment cell," for purported disciplinary violations, such as an alleged failure to button his prison clothes properly, introduce himself appropriately to a guard or to wash his face at a specified time.
About 40 supporters from different Russian cities gathered outside the colony, one of them told The Associated Press in the messaging app Telegram.
Yelena, who spoke on condition that her last name was withheld for safety reasons, said the supporters weren't allowed into the colony, but decided to stay outside until the verdict was announced: "People think it's important to be nearby at least like that, for moral support. We will be waiting."
Navalny was ordered to serve the new prison term in a "special regime" penal colony, a term that refers to the Russian prisons with the highest level of security and the harshest inmate restrictions. It wasn't immediately clear when he would be transferred to such a colony from the Melekhovo prison.
By law, Navalny has 10 days to appeal the verdict, and if he does, it will not take effect until the appeal is adjudicated.
Penal colony #6, Melekhovo, RU
American Families of IS Victims Sue Cement Maker Lafarge
Over Syria Payments
By Reuters
July 28, 2023, at 6:02 a.m.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of French concrete maker Lafarge is seen on the plant of Bercy on the banks of the river Seine in Paris, France, September 3, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo REUTERS
ZURICH (Reuters) -Relations of a U.S. aid worker and American soldiers - all killed or injured by Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front - have lodged a legal claim against cement maker Lafarge over payments the French company made to extremist groups.
Last year Lafarge became the first company in American history convicted of bribing a foreign terrorist organisation after it admitted paying the two groups to allow it to keep operating in Syria.
Lafarge, which was taken over by Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, agreed to pay $778 million in forfeiture and fines as part of a plea agreement last October.
The French company paid nearly $6 million to IS and Al-Nusrah Front in Syria, the court document lodged on Thursday with the district court for the Eastern District of New York said.
"Defendants' payments aided the terrorist attacks that targeted plaintiffs and their family members," the document said.
As well as Lafarge SA, the defendants include its former Chairman Bruno Lafont and other executives in the claim which is seeking punitive damages and compensation.
"In accepting Lafarge's guilty plea last year, the court found its crime impacted the victims of terrorist acts," the complaint document said.
"Just as Lafarge is guilty of a crime under the Anti-Terrorism Act, it is civilly liable under the same statute to the victims of its criminal conspiracy," it added.
Lafarge said on Friday it had not been served with the lawsuit and would therefore not comment on it.
The claimants include the families of U.S. journalists and military personnel killed or injured by Al-Nusrah Front and IS attacks in Syria, Iraq, and further afield.
They include the family of Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker who was raped and murdered, as well as the families of journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley who were both beheaded by IS on camera in 2014.
The complaint also includes the families of 10 U.S. military personnel killed or injured by IS attacks in Syria and Iraq and Niger, and one American injured during an attack in Turkey. "Lafarge's support for ISIS and ANF ran deep. It operated a lucrative cement plant in northern Syria, and it decided that bribing Syrian terrorists offered the best way to protect its profits from the plant," the court document said.
(Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
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Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan arrested after court gives 3-year prison sentence
Cricketer-turned-politician, 70, was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Aug 05, 2023 1:44 AM PDT |
Lawyers gather to protest following the arrest of Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan,
outside his residence in Lahore, Pakistan, on Saturday. (Mohsin Raza/Reuters)
Police arrested Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore on Saturday after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts, potentially barring the opposition leader from contesting an upcoming election.
Legal experts say the guilty verdict reached by an Islamabad district court could eliminate Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's greatest rival in a national election expected to be held in November.
"Police have arrested Imran Khan from his residence," Khan's lawyer, Intezar Panjotha, told Reuters. "We are filing a petition against the decision in high court."
The arrest is the latest in a series of blows that have weakened Khan's political standing, after he fell out with Pakistan's powerful military and his party splintered.
Lahore Police Chief Bilal Siddique Kamiana confirmed the arrest and told Reuters the politician was being transferred to the capital, Islamabad. He would then be held at Central Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, near the capital, according to the arrest warrant.
Appeal filed
Khan's political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a statement it had already filed another appeal to the Supreme Court earlier on Saturday.
Khan, 70, is a former cricket star who went on to forge a political career and who was prime minister from 2018 to 2022. He has denied wrongdoing and in a pre-recorded video address released by his party he asked his supporters to peacefully protest.
"By the time you hear this statement, they will have arrested me. I have only one appeal: don't sit silently at home. I am struggling for you and the country and your children's future," he said.
The conviction came a day after Pakistan's high court temporarily halted the district court trial. It was not immediately clear why the trial had proceeded despite the high court decision.
Khan speaks with reporters at his residence, in Lahore, Pakistan, on Thursday.
(K.M. Chaudary/The Associated Press)
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a broadcast statement that Khan's arrest followed a full investigation and proper legal proceedings in a trial court. She said his arrest was unrelated to the upcoming elections.
Of course, she did!
'Corrupt practices'
A copy of the court verdict, shared by Khan's legal team, said he had made false statements in relation to acquiring official state gifts.
"He has been found guilty of corrupt practices by hiding the benefits he accrued from national exchequer wilfully and intentionally," the verdict said.
"He cheated while providing information about gifts he obtained from Toshakhana (the state gift repository) which later proved to be false and inaccurate."
Lead up to election
Police surrounded Khan's residence in Lahore after the verdict was released, Pakistani media and a Reuters witness reported, but there were no immediate signs of unrest in the hours after his arrest, unlike last May.
Then, his arrest and detention for several days over a separate case sparked political turmoil and deadly clashes between his supporters and police.
In the aftermath, thousands of Khan's aides and supporters have been arrested, according to the interior minister. Many pro-Khan parliamentarians were also arrested and distanced themselves from Khan, with some resigning from politics.
Prime Minister Sharif has proposed that parliament be dissolved on Aug. 9, three days before the end of its term, according to political sources, paving the way for a general election by November.
A PTI official said vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister, would lead the party in Khan's absence.
Khan was convicted by the court in a case that was first investigated by the election commission, which found him guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts while prime minister.
He was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($850,000 Cdn).
Khan has been charged in a string of cases since being ousted from the premiership in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
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