JAKARTA - The jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Thursday the authorities had opened new criminal cases against him in relation to promoting terrorism and extremism, with a potential penalty of more than double.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent domestic critic, has already served a total prison sentence of 11-1/2 years for fraud, humiliation of courts and parole offenses, all of which he has rejected as false accusations of silencing him.
"I am a genius from the world below. Professoras are not against me," he said cynically in a Twitter post, comparing himself to arch-enemy
"You all thought I had been isolated in prison for two years, but it turned out I was actively committing a crime. Fortunately, the Investigative Committee was vigilant and missed nothing," he said.
Navalny said his lawyer estimated he could now face a cumulative sentence of about 30 years. There was no immediate official confirmation of a new case from the Investigative Committee.
Meanwhile, Navalny's spokesman, Kira Yarmysh, said the case was linked to a "Polytic Popular" YouTube channel launched by his allies, after he was jailed for a year.
It is known, Navalny has long been a thorn on Putin's side, campaigning against endemic corruption in Russia in videos made cleverly and attracting large audiences on social media.
In 2020, he was poisoned during campaign trips in Siberia, according to an analysis conducted by several European medical institutions. The Kremlin denied involvement. After months of medical treatment in Germany, he was arrested for a parole offense, when he returned to Russia in early 2021.
It is known, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has accelerated its campaign to crush and silence domestic opposition. Navalny has spoken out against the war, attacked President Putin while in court and called the invasion "stupid" and "built on lies".
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