Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona says the latest sentence handed down to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny will include his previous sentence, meaning he is scheduled to serve a total of 19 years in Russia's harshest prison regime after being found guilty on charges of extremism.
Mediazona on August 5 also reported that the politician was cleared of four other charges in the trial held in a facility set up by the Moscow City Court at the prison 250 kilometers east of the capital, where the 47-year-old is being held.
Mediazona reported the details after what it said was an analysis of the audio recording from the courtroom.
It previously wasn't clear if Navalny’s new 19-year sentence would be in addition to or included his previous nine-year term on embezzlement charges. A Navalny aide said the 10 months the politician served under house arrest in 2014-15 would also be taken into account.
The sentence will be considered to have started when Navalny was arrested upon his return to Russia in January 2021, the Mediazona analysis indicated.
There was no official confirmation on the details or whether the new sentence would be served concurrently or consecutively to the previous term.
Navalny was convicted on three counts: financing extremism, creating an extremist community, and calls for extremism.
SEE ALSO: Facing Decades In Prison, Opposition Leader Aleksei Navalny Still Fighting For Russia's FutureThe Mediazona report said the court cleared Navalny of criminal liability on four other charges based on the statute of limitations: rehabilitation of Nazism, involvement of minors in the commission of dangerous acts, the creation of a nonprofit organization that encroaches on the rights of citizens, and on public calls for extremism.
Navalny, his allies, rights groups, and Western governments say all the charges are politically motivated.
The U.S. State Department called the latest verdict "an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial," comments echoed by the European Union, which called for Navalny's immediate release.
"The latest verdict in yet another sham trial against Aleksei Navalny is unacceptable. This arbitrary conviction is the response to his courage to speak critically against the Kremlin’s regime," European Council President Charles Michel said in a social-media post after the verdict was announced.
Amnesty International called the new sentence "little more than a stealthily imposed life sentence" and "a sinister act of political vengeance that not only targets Navalny personally but serves as a warning to state critics across the country."
The prosecution, which sought a 20-year prison sentence, had asked the court to order Navalny serve any new prison term in a “special regime” prison, a term that refers a prison with the highest level of security and the harshest restrictions for inmates. The designation comes even though Russian law states it should be given to those with life sentences or "especially dangerous recidivists."
Navalny reacted to the sentence on Facebook, saying the number of years did not matter.
"I perfectly understand that, like many political prisoners, I am sitting on a life sentence. Where life is measured by the term of my life or the term of life of this regime," he said.
Navalny urged Russians to keep resisting the Kremlin and what he said are its attempts to "frighten" Russians "and deprive you of the will to resist."
He added that Russians are being forced to surrender their country "without a fight to a gang of traitors, thieves and scoundrels who have seized power.... Don't lose the will to resist."
Despite harassment, arrests, physical attacks, and the nerve-agent poisoning in August 2020, Navalny continues to play the role of opposition agitator, striving to remain relevant even in isolation.