Russian Court Orders Arrest Of Navalnaya, Wife Of The Late Leading Opposition

Yulia Navalnaya with Russian politician Alexei Navalny/DOCUMENT via Instagram @yulia_navalnaya

JAKARTA - The court in Moscow ordered Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russia's late opposition politician Alexei Navalny, to be arrested. This order was issued in a absentia trial.

The Basmanyy District Court in Moscow said Navalnaya was involved in an extremist organization, his spokesman Kira Yarmysh said in a post on social media reported by CNN, Tuesday, July 9.

Alexei Navalny died on February 16 in a prison in Siberia, where he served a 19-year prison sentence after being found guilty of creating an extremist community, funding extremist activists, and various other crimes in August.

He has served 11 and a half years in prison in maximum security facilities on charges of fraud and other charges he has always denied and claims to be politically motivated.

Navalny is Russia's most famous opposition leader and spent years criticizing Putin, who has ruled for nearly a quarter of a century, with great personal risks.

His death comes weeks before a presidential election scheduled to begin nationwide on March 15.

Navalny's death was met with sadness and anger around the world as well as in Russia, because the slightest act of political dissent carries a huge risk.

He returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he was treated after being poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.

Arriving there, Navalny was immediately arrested on charges he considered politically motivated and spent the rest of his life in prison.

His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, in February accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for her death and indicated she would take over her husband's role, in favor of a happy and beautiful 'Russia'.

Navalnaya posted an eight-minute video on her deceased husband's social media, saying Putin 'kills the father of my children, Putin takes the most valuable thing that is the closest and most loved person.'

He said Russian authorities were hiding Navalny's body in an attempt to disguise the cause of his death.

The Kremlin rejects allegations of involvement in Navalny's death.