Putin critic Navalny expects 'Stalinist' prison sentence in extremism trial

Moscow [Russia], August 4: Alexei Navalny's team said on Thursday he was preparing for a lengthy new prison sentence that could see him behind bars for decades, as a trial on extremism charges draws to a close.
Russian prosecutors last month requested a 20-year sentence for the most prominent critic of President Vladmir Putin if he is convicted again, this time on charges including founding and financing an extremist organization and trivializing Nazism.
The court was due to deliver its verdict in the trial that began in June on Friday.
"It's going to be a huge term," Navalny's team posted on his behalf on social media. "This is what's called a "Stalinist" term. They asked for 20 years so they will give 18 or something around it. It doesn't really matter ... its main purpose is to intimidate," the post continued.
Navalny, 47, was arrested in 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been treated from a near-fatal poisoning that he blames on Russia's domestic intelligence service.
Source: Qatar Tribune