Russian court orders arrest of Yulia Navalnaya
A Moscow court has issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, on charges of extremism, according to state media.
The charges against Navalnaya, who resides outside Russia, relate to her alleged “participation in an extremist society,” as reported by the Tass news agency.
Navalny, who was Russia’s most prominent opposition leader over the past decade, died in February while imprisoned in the Arctic Circle. Russian authorities claim he died of natural causes, but his widow asserts that he was “tortured, starved, cut off, and killed” by President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny had been serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that were widely viewed as politically motivated.
In response to the arrest warrant, Yulia Navalnaya posted on X: “When you write about this, please do not forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal. His place is in prison, not somewhere in The Hague in a cozy cell with a TV, but in Russia – in the same colony and the same two-by-three-meter cell in which he killed Alexei.”
The Moscow court ruled that Ms. Navalnaya, who has vowed to continue her husband’s work, should be remanded in custody and declared her wanted.
The decision means she would face arrest if she set foot in Russia.
The charges may be linked to a Moscow court ruling in June 2021 which outlawed three organizations linked to Navalny, labeling them “extremists”.
Ms Navalnaya was unable to attend his funeral in March.
She has since met several Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden.
This month, she was elected to chair the US-based Human Rights Foundation – a non-profit organization working to promote and protect human rights across the world.
She said she would use her role to step up the struggle her husband fought against Mr Putin.
1 comment
That’s very good