Watchdog

Jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has lost an appeal against a decision by penitentiary officials to label him as "a person inclined to commit crimes of a terrorist or extremist nature."

A court in the Vladimir region, some 100 kilometers east of Moscow, rejected Navalny’s appeal on June 7.

After his arrest in January 2021, the outspoken Kremlin critic was labeled as a person "inclined to escape incarceration," which imposed strict controls on him. In October, that label was replaced by the "terrorist" one.

Navalny was arrested upon his return to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for a poison attack in Siberia in 2020 with what European labs defined as a Soviet-style nerve agent.

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He was then handed a two-and-a-half year prison sentence for violating the terms of an earlier parole during of his convalescence abroad. The original conviction is widely regarded as a trumped-up, politically motivated case.

In March, Navalny was sentenced in another case to nine years in prison on embezzlement and contempt charges that he and his supporters have repeatedly rejected as politically motivated.

Last week, Navalny said new charges for "creating an extremist group" in connection with his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and groups associated with it had been filed against him.

FBK and other groups associated with Navalny, as well as his political movement, were declared "extremist organizations" by Russian authorities in June 2021 and disbanded.

Several of Navalny's associates have already been charged with the same offense.

Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS

MINSK -- A court in Minsk has sentenced sociologist Tatsyana Vadalaskaya to a lengthy prison sentence while prosecutors in another case have recommended a harsh sentence for journalist Aksana Kolb on charges related to protests against the disputed results of a presidential election in August 2020 that handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in power.

Vadalaskaya was found guilty on June 7 by Minsk's Zavodzki district court of the organization and preparation of activities that disrupted social order.

She was sentenced to 30 months in open prison, a system known across the former Soviet Union as "khimiya" (chemistry), a term that dates to the late 1940s when convicts were sent to work at dangerous facilities such as chemical factories and uranium mines while living in special nearby dormitories instead of being incarcerated in penitentiaries.

These days a khimiya sentence is seen as less harsh as a convict will stay in a dormitory not far from their permanent address and work either at their workplace as usual or at a state entity defined by the penitentiary service.

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In a separate case on similar charges at the central district court in Minsk, prosecutors asked for a 30-month open-prison sentence for Kolb, editor of the Minsk-based independent weekly Novy Chas (New Time).

Novy Chas reported that representatives of Swedish, Czech, and German embassies in Minsk were not allowed to attend the trial. Belarusian human rights groups have recognized Kolb as a political prisoner since she was arrested on April 20.

The cases highlight Lukashenka's harsh, and sometimes violent, crackdown against any dissent since the election, which opposition members say was rigged.

The 67-year-old, who has been in power since 1994, has directed the campaign to arrest tens of thousands of people. Fearing for their safety, most opposition members have been forced to flee the country.

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In another trial that began on June 7, this one in the southeastern city of Homel, a court began a hearing against Russian citizen Andrei Podnebenny, who is charged with terrorism, attempting to damage private property, and the creation of an extremist group. All charges are related to Podnebenny's participation in anti-Lukashenka rallies in the city.

Meanwhile, a former lecturer at the Department of Italian Language at the Minsk State Linguistic University, Natallya Dulina, was sentenced to 15 days in jail on hooliganism charges that she has rejected. That is Dulina's third 15-day jail sentence for actions related to protests over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February.

In the eastern city of Babruysk, journalist Dzmitry Suslau on June 7 was sentenced to 15 days in jail for the "distribution of false materials" about Ukraine war.

Several others were also convicted on similar charges as authorities try to keep a lid on protests related to the war.

Lukashenka has allowed Russia to use Belarus territory to stage the invasion of Ukraine.

The West has refused to recognize the results of the election and does not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader. Many countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions against his regime in response to the suppression of dissent in the country.