TALLINN: Russian prosecutors have asked a court to sentence imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 20 years in prison on extremism charges, his ally Ivan Zhdanov said Thursday.
According to Zhdanov, the trial against Navalny, which has been held behind closed doors in the prison where the politician is serving another lengthy sentence, is scheduled to conclude with a verdict on Aug. 4. If the court finds Navalny guilty, it will be his fifth criminal conviction, all of which have been widely seen as a deliberate strategy by the Kremlin to silence its ardent opponent.
In his closing statement released Thursday by his team, Navalny bashed Russian authorities as being governed by “bargaining, power, bribery, deception, treachery ... and not law.” Navalny said: “Anyone in Russia knows that a person who seeks justice in a court of law is completely vulnerable. The case of that person is hopeless.”
Navalny, 47, is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe who 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.
The authorities sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison for parole violations and then to another nine years on charges of fraud and contempt of court.
The politician is currently serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison 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 properly button his prison clothes, properly introduce himself to a guard or to wash his face at a specified time.
Navalny’s allies have accused prison authorities of failing to provide him with proper medical assistance and voiced concern about his health.
The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His allies said the charges retroactively criminalize all the foundation’s activities since its creation in 2011.
Navalny has rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and has accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life.
One of his associates — Daniel Kholodny — was relocated from a different prison to face trial alongside him. The prosecution has asked to sentence Kholodny to 10 years in prison.
The trial against the two began a month ago and went along swiftly by Russian standards, where people often spend months, if not years, awaiting for their verdict. It was unusually shielded from public attention and Navalny’s lawyers haven’t offered any comments on the proceedings.
Navalny, in his sardonic social media posts, occasionally offered a glimpse of what was going on with his case. In one such post, the politician revealed that a song by a popular Russian rapper praising him was listed as evidence in the case files, and claimed that he made the judge and bailiffs laugh out loud as the song was read out during a court hearing. In another, he said that the case files linked him to US mogul Warren Buffet.
Another insight into the trial came from three other prominent imprisoned dissidents: Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin and Alexei Gorinov — they all have revealed in recent weeks that they testified in the trial in Navalny’s favor.
In social media statements from behind bars, the three described Navalny as in good spirits and cheerful. Kara-Murza said the trial was “Kafkaesque.” Gorinov said he exchanged jokes with Navalny about similar treatment they both face while in prison. Yashin recalled how Navalny himself was asking him questions during Yashin’s testimony at the hearing, challenging the accusations levelled against him.
In his closing statement, Navalny once again described the trial against him as unjust and referred to the recent short-lived armed rebellion by the fighters of Russia’s private military company Wagner, after which their chief and the leader of the mutiny, Yevgeny Prigozhin, walked free, even though a number of Russian soldiers were killed by his troops.
“Those who were declared traitors to their Motherland and betrayers, in the morning killed several Russian army officers as the entire Russia watched in astonishment, and by lunch agreed on something with someone and went home,” Navalny said.
“Thus, law and justice in Russia were once again put in their place. And that place is not prestigious. One sure can’t find them in court,” the politician said.
Russia seeks a 20-year prison term for Kremlin foe Navalny in closed trial, ally says
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Russia seeks a 20-year prison term for Kremlin foe Navalny in closed trial, ally says
- Navalny bashed Russian authorities as being governed by “bargaining, power, bribery, deception, treachery ... and not law”
- Navalny said: “Anyone in Russia knows that a person who seeks justice in a court of law is completely vulnerable”
Sri Lanka’s left-leaning president swears in new Cabinet after election victory
- Harini Amarasuriya, first woman to head Sri Lankan government, reappointed as PM
- National People’s Power alliance won two-thirds majority in the 225-member parliament
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s new left-leaning president swore in on Monday a 22-member Cabinet after his party coalition secured a landslide victory in a snap parliamentary vote last week.
The alliance of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the National People’s Power, secured 159 seats in the 225-member assembly, giving the new leader a mandate to fulfill his campaign promises of sweeping reforms, including to fight poverty and corruption.
The crisis-hit island nation is still struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, after declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on its external debt in 2022.
Dissanayake reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister and lawmaker Vijitha Herath to helm the foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism ministries, while the president himself retained the posts of defense and finance minister.
“This power we gained is accountable. To whom? On one hand, it is accountable to the public, and on the other hand, to the movement,” Dissanayake told the new Cabinet after the swearing-in ceremony, referring to his alliance’s aim to create a people-centered national movement.
“We had a lot of good aims. We worked to gain power for that. We struggled a lot … The huge the victory we achieved, the heavier our responsibility,” he said. “Let’s work together to achieve the results our people deserve.”
When Dissanayake won the presidential vote in September, the NPP coalition only had three seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve it and call for a snap election that took place on Thursday, a year ahead of schedule.
His new, fully-formed Cabinet will govern Sri Lanka after austerity measures imposed by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe — part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund — led to price hikes in food and fuel and caused hardship to millions of Sri Lankans.
During his campaign, Dissanayake said he planned to renegotiate the targets set in the IMF deal to alleviate the burden placed on ordinary people. A team from the fund is in Colombo this week to review the reform program.
More than half of former lawmakers chose not to run for re-election. No contenders were seen from the powerful Rajapaksa family, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya, also a former president, who was ousted in 2022 and largely blamed for the crisis.
Thursday’s election saw the United People’s Power of Sajith Premadasa retain its role from the previous parliament as the largest opposition party, winning 40 seats.
Sri Lanka People’s Front, the party loyal to the Rajapaksa family, secured only three seats in the new parliament.
UN climate chief to nations at COP29: ‘cut the theatrics’
- As the UN climate talks limp into a second week in Azerbaijan, the world is no closer to a finance deal for poorer countries that will determine the success or failure of COP29
As the UN climate talks limp into a second week in Azerbaijan, the world is no closer to a finance deal for poorer countries that will determine the success or failure of COP29.
UN climate boss Simon Stiell said that “bluffing, brinkmanship and premeditated playbooks burn up precious time and run down the goodwill needed.”
“Let’s cut the theatrics and get down to business,” he told delegates assembled in a cavernous football stadium in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.
COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev, a former oil executive turned ecology minister, urged countries to “refocus and pick up the pace.”
Government ministers at the negotiating table have until Friday to break the impasse over how to raise $1 trillion a year for developing countries to cope with global warming.
With the clock ticking, pressure is mounting on G20 leaders to throw their weight behind the stalled process in Baku when they meet in Brazil for their annual summit on Monday and Tuesday.
“A successful outcome at COP29 is still within reach, but it will require leadership and compromise, namely from the G20 countries,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, where he is attending the G20 summit of the world’s biggest economies.
“The spotlight is naturally on the G20. They account for 80 percent of global emissions,” Guterres said, calling on the group to “lead by example.”
In a sign that a solution could emerge from Rio, the head of the Brazilian delegation to COP29, Andre Aranha Correa do Lago, left Baku to prepare for the G20.
Besides the finance impasse, a fight is also brewing at COP29 over whether countries should recommit to last year’s landmark pledge to move the world away from fossil fuels.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of obstructing efforts to address this and other measures to reduce record-high emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gases.
The main task at COP29 is negotiating a new deal to provide developing countries enough money to cut emissions and build resilience against worsening climate shocks.
Rei Josiah Echano, disaster chief in the typhoon-hit Philippines province of Northern Samar, called for talks to be “radically fast-tracked” to help those in dire need.
Developing countries excluding China will need $1 trillion a year in outside assistance by the end of the decade, according to independent economists commissioned by the United Nations.
Stiell said it was “easy to become slightly anaesthetised” by the numbers.
“But let’s never allow ourselves to forget: these figures are the difference between safety and life-wrecking disasters for billions of people,” he said.
“It certainly keeps me up at night.”
Climate-vulnerable nations want developed nations to commit at COP29 to substantially raising their existing pledge of $100 billion a year.
But donors say they cannot raise the money alone and the private sector must also be involved.
The United States and European Union also want wealthy emerging economies not obligated to pay climate finance — most notably China — to share the burden.
The EU is the biggest contributor to international climate finance but faces political and budget pressure, and could be left exposed should the United States refuse to pay up under Donald Trump.
The conference opened in the shadow of Trump’s re-election in the United States, and efforts to shore up support for the global climate fight took another knock when Argentina’s delegation withdrew from the summit.
A meeting between Chinese and European officials was seen as a glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy first week.
Azerbaijan lacks diplomatic experience at a time when COP observers say crucial leadership is needed to steer what some see as the most complex climate negotiations in years.
Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, was accused of making matters harder by defending fossil fuels and attacking France over its colonial record, sparking a diplomatic incident.
Critics have questioned the suitability of Azerbaijan to host the premier climate talks.
The Council of Europe, the EU’s top human rights body, called on Monday for the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan in a letter to Aliyev.
Militants kill five Nigerian troops in raid on base
- Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province storm military base
- Militant groups have been waging a 15-year-old insurrection for an Islamic Caliphate
KANO, Nigeria: Attackers from a Daesh-affiliated militant group killed five Nigerian soldiers and wounded 10 more in a raid on a military base near the Niger border, two officers said Monday.
Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the base in Kareto village, Borno state in a dawn attack Saturday and triggered a gunbattle, the military officers said.
Northern Nigeria has been plagued by a bloody Islamist insurgency since 2009, and security cooperation on the border has broken down since the July 2023 military coup in Niger.
“We lost five soldiers in the battle with 10 other injured,” one senior military officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“Four of our men are still missing and search and rescue is under way to locate them,” he added.
The gunmen captured four trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns and burnt five other vehicles, including a mine-resistant military truck, according to a second officer who gave the same toll.
In a statement issued Sunday, ISWAP claimed to have “killed and wounded” more than 20 troops in a suicide car bomb attack during the raid, according to SITE Intelligence, which monitors online militant activity.
The group claimed to have torched the base and burnt 14 vehicles.
Kareto, 153 kilometers (95 miles) north of the Borno state capital Maiduguri, houses the Nigerian army’s 149 Battalion, which is deployed to fight ISWAP and its rival fellow militant group Boko Haram.
The base has been repeatedly targeted by both groups.
Militant groups have been waging a 15-year-old insurrection for an Islamic Caliphate that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million more.
Ukraine brings back long rolling power cuts after major Russian strike
- Russia unleashed its largest missile attack on Ukraine in almost three months
- Temporary power cuts across the country were announced on Sunday
KYIV: Ukrainians in the Black Sea port city of Odesa on Monday morning had been without power for 24 hours and further cuts were planned across the country after a massive Russian missile strike over the weekend damaged energy infrastructure.
Russia unleashed its largest missile attack on Ukraine in almost three months on Sunday, killing seven people and further hobbling an already damaged energy system.
“The situation is most difficult in Odesa and Odesa district. Unfortunately, it is not yet technically possible to supply power to the critical infrastructure in the Kyivskyi and Primorskyi districts of the city,” power distributor DTEK wrote on the Telegram messenger.
As of Monday morning some 400,000 homes had power restored while 321,000 consumers remained without service, DTEK said.
Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said the water supply and heating was being gradually restored across the city with 445 shelters offering necessary services to residents.
Russia has attacked the Odesa region for months, hitting port and energy infrastructure.
Attacks in the autumn of 2022 left the region without electricity for several days and also triggered curbs on energy use in the winter of 2023.
Temporary power cuts across the country were announced on Sunday between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. by national grid operator Ukrenergo which said workers were repairing the damage as quickly as possible.
Engineers restored power to almost 150,000 consumers following yesterday’s attack, the energy ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Authorities said most regions would face blackouts on Monday of up to eight hours, including the capital Kyiv.
Power cuts of six hours were expected in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy and cuts of four to six hours in Sumy in northern Ukraine.
No cuts were planned in five western regions.
EU needs to keep up dialogue with Israel, Dutch foreign minister says on Borrell proposal
- Disagreeing with the EU’s top diplomat who proposed to pause the dialogue with the country
PARIS: The European Union needs to continue its diplomatic dialogue with Israel amid tensions in the Middle East, Dutch foreign Caspar Veldkamp said on Monday, disagreeing with the EU’s top diplomat who proposed to pause the dialogue with the country.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week proposed that the bloc suspend its political dialogue with Israel, citing possible human rights violations in the war in Gaza, according to four diplomats and a letter seen by Reuters.
