Navalny, a former lawyer who rose to prominence more than a
decade ago by lampooning President Vladimir Putin's elite and
alleging large-scale corruption, is serving combined sentences
of 11-1/2 years for fraud and contempt of court on charges that
he says were trumped up to silence him.
He appeared in a Moscow court via video link on Wednesday as
part of a case into extremism, Reuters reporters at the court
said.
"They have made absurd accusations, according to which I face 30
years in prison," he said in a statement published on social
media by his supporters.
"I insist that the attempt to close the process is an attempt
not just to prevent me from getting acquainted with the case,
but it is also an attempt to make sure that no one finds out
about it," he said.
Navalny said it was absurd to argue he had committed terrorism
while in prison. He said the case would be tried by a military
court.
Navalny earned admiration from Russia's disparate opposition for
voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he
had been treated for what Western laboratory tests showed was an
attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia.
Navalny says he was poisoned in Siberia in August 2020. The
Kremlin denied trying to kill him.
His supporters cast him as a Russian version of South Africa's
Nelson Mandela who will one day walk free from jail to lead his
country.
Russian authorities view him and his supporters as extremists
with links to the United States' CIA intelligence agency who are
seeking to destabilise Russia. They have outlawed his movement,
forcing many of his followers to flee abroad.
His campaigning organisations have been banned in Russia as
"extremist".
This month Russian investigators formally linked Navalny
supporters to the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, a popular military
blogger and supporter of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine,
who was killed by a bomb in St Petersburg. Navalny allies have
denied any connection to the killing.
Separately on Wednesday, Russian investigators said that 11
people had been put on an "international wanted list" in a case
linked to Navalny, state-owned news agency TASS reported.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and
Gareth Jones)
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