Russian prosecutors on Thursday sought 20 years in prison for Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who has been on trial behind closed doors for a month in a new “extremism” trial that illustrates the climate of repression in Russia amid a full-blown conflict. in Ukraine, according to Reuters and AFP, cited by Agerpres.

“The prosecutor’s office is asking for 20 years of imprisonment in a colony with a special regime for Navalny,” his relatives reported in the Telegram messenger, clarifying that the verdict will be announced on August 4.

The 47-year-old anti-corruption activist, who is already serving a nine-year sentence for “fraud,” has become the target of this new trial, in which he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Navalny, one of the fiercest opponents of Vladimir Putin, who is regularly sent to the correctional cell of the prison where he is, condemns all these criminal cases as “political revenge” by the authorities.

Since the start of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, most opponents who have not fled Russia have been imprisoned or persecuted, especially for denouncing the conflict.

During the new trial, Navalny again condemned the Russian offensive, which caused “tens of thousands of deaths in the stupidest and most senseless war of the 21st century,” according to statements posted by his colleagues on his Telegram account.

“Sooner or later, Russia will rise again. And it depends on us what it will be based on in the future,” he added.

The opponent, who in 2020 narrowly survived poisoning with a military-grade neurotoxic substance that he blamed on the Kremlin, has been in prison since January 2021.

His trial is being held behind closed doors in the IK-6 high-security prison in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers east of Moscow.