the opponent Alexei Navalny, imprisoned in very severe conditions, can he escape his prison sentence?

This is one of the last chances for Alexei Navalny to escape the heavy prison sentence to which he has been sentenced. Justice examines this Tuesday, October 18 the appeal in cassation that he filed after his sentence to 9 years in prison for fraud on March 22. He was accused of embezzling money from his anti-corruption foundation for his personal benefit. But does he have a chance in front of Russian justice?

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Since mid-June, Alexei Navalny has been imprisoned in a “severe” penal colony, 250 km from Moscow. An example this summer: on August 12, Alexei Navalny was sent to solitary confinement for three days. The reason seems ridiculous: he had unbuttoned one of the buttons of his uniform. So he found himself in a space of six square meters, furnished only with a stool, with a book and a cup. Since then, the opponent has returned there five times and is still there today. Imprisonment periods in these conditions much longer than what Russian law allows denounce his lawyers.

However, his complaints against the prison administration remain without effect. The opponent has the right to see his family only four times a year, he can no longer speak in private with his lawyer and he can only meet him through opaque glass. He would not have the right to communicate with the other detainees according to certain testimonies.

Extremely harsh conditions of detention, and a more uncertain future than ever since, shortly after his sentence to 9 years in prison in March, Alexei Navalny learned that he was the subject of new charges, for creating an extremist organization, with its anti-corruption foundation. He faces an additional 15 years in prison in this new case. At the moment, he is behind bars until at least 2032.