Russian dissident and vocal Putin critic Alexei Navalny has been serving time in a Moscow jail on a trumped-up parole violation charge since January of 2021, but he is finally due to be getting out in the next year or so. Or at least he was due to be released. Now it’s looking as if that might not happen at all. Navalny has been relocated to a “penal colony” (can they make these Russian facilities sound any creepier?) located several hours outside of Moscow. There, he is now facing yet another trial where he is being charged with fraud and contempt of court. If found “guilty” on those charges, he could have up to another 15 years added to his sentence. His supporters were quick to cry foul, saying that he had been relocated to make it more difficult for the press and the public to access these latest proceedings. Thus far Navalny has remained defiant, saying that the authorities are frightened of what he might reveal during the trial, but similar statements in the past haven’t prevented him from being locked up for extended periods. (NPR)

A new trial against Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny opened Tuesday at the penal colony where he faces another lengthy prison term, a further step in a yearlong, multi-pronged crackdown on Russia’s most ardent Kremlin critic, his allies and other dissenting voices.

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s longtime foe, is charged with fraud and contempt of court. His allies denounced the case as an effort by the Kremlin to keep the anti-corruption crusader in prison for as long as possible.

Authorities moved the trial to the prison colony hours away from Moscow, where Navalny is serving a sentence for parole violations. The move received criticism for effectively limiting access to the proceedings for the media and supporters.

The first day of the trial seemed like a total farce, with Navalny basically daring them to keep raising one bogus, political set of charges after another against him. He said he would refuse to remain quiet nonetheless. When the hearing concluded, the court adjourned until February 21.

No amount of international pressure has moved Putin to back off on this obvious political persecution. First, they tried to assassinate Navalny by poisoning him and they almost succeeded. Then after lying in a coma in Germany for weeks on end until he was finally well enough to be released, they said he had missed his parole hearing while he was in the hospital. That led to the trial where he was sent to jail for the sentence he’s currently serving.

Now, if nothing happens to stop the Russian “justice” machine that serves at Vladimir Putin’s pleasure, he will likely be found “guilty” after another dog and pony show. That would lead to as much as fifteen years in the prison colony where the sham trial is being held.

Navalny is currently restricted to only four visits by his wife or other family members per year. One of those visits is scheduled soon, likely during the period immediately before or during this next trial. His wife is no longer hopeful that she will even be allowed to see him.

If you ever find yourself wondering if Russia under Vladimir Putin is really as bad as it’s made out to be, just keep this story in mind. We have run into our fair share of autocratic officials in the United States issuing mandates and restricting people’s freedom in the name of the pandemic. But it’s thankfully never gotten anywhere near as bad as it is in Russia. In America, if you criticize the pandemic policies of the government you’ll just be “canceled” by the left and pilloried in the media. In Russia they will literally show up at your door, haul you away, and throw you in a hole.