The Supreme Court of Russia's Bashkortostan region on April 9 extended the prison sentence of Lilia Chanysheva, the former head of late opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's team in Ufa, by two years after prosecutors said her initial 7 1/2-year sentence for extremism was too lenient.
Prosecutors had demanded an extension of 2 1/2 years to bring her sentence to 10 years. Chanysheva, speaking during a court hearing, reiterated her not-guilty plea.
Chanysheva was initially sentenced in June 2023 after a court in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, found her guilty of creating an extremist community, inciting extremism, and establishing an organization that violated citizens' rights.
Her co-defendant, activist Rustem Mulyukov, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years on charges of taking part in the activities of an extremist organization, including organizing events, educational seminars, investigative programs, and rallies and demonstrations in Ufa. The Supreme Court did not change his prison term.
Chanysheva headed the local unit of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups until his team disbanded them after a Moscow prosecutor went to court to have them branded "extremist."
The request was accepted, effectively outlawing the group.
Chanysheva's defense team said at the time that her arrest was the first since the movement was banned. The charges appeared to be retroactive to the period of time before the organization she worked for had been legally classified as extremist.
Navalny died on February 16 in an Arctic prison while serving a 19-year term on extremism and other charges.
Several opposition leaders and other associates of Navalny have been charged with establishing an extremist group.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several of Navalny's former associates have been charged with discrediting the Russian military, distributing "fake" news about the military, and extremism.
Also last year, the former leader of Navalny’s team in the Altai region, Vadim Ostanin, was sentenced to nine years in prison on an extremism charge.
Prison Term Of Former Head Of Navalny's Bashkortostan Team Extended
Lilia Chanysheva appears in court in Ufa in June 2023.