Britain condemned Russia on Friday for sending opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison for 19 years on extremism charges, claiming that “dissent cannot be silenced” and urging “his immediate release.”
“His abuse shows Russia’s complete disregard for even the most basic of human rights,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted, hours after Navalny was handed the sentence following a trial at the penal colony where he is held.
A Russian court on Friday sentenced jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 19 additional years behind bars on extremism charges, his spokesperson said.
“Alexey Navalny was sentenced to 19 years at a maximum security penal colony,” spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said. An AFP journalist watching the court session in a press centre at his prison said Navalny smiled as the judge read the verdict and hugged another defendant before the transmission was cut.
