Russian court starts trial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 2nd left sitting between his lawyers on a TV screen in a courtroom (AP)

A Russian court has opened a new trial of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny that could keep him behind bars for decades.

The trial is taking place at a maximum security prison in Melekhovo, 150 miles east of Moscow, where Navalny – the Kremlin’s arch foe – is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court.

Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organised major anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

The 47-year-old has said that the new extremism charges – which he rejected as “absurd” – could keep him in prison for another 30 years.

He said an investigator told him that he would also face a separate military court trial on terrorism charges that could potentially carry a life sentence.