Russian authorities have pressed fresh criminal charges against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to a message shared on the activist’s official social media accounts Friday.
“I have no idea which word to use to describe my latest news. Whether it’s sad, funny or absurd,” Navalny wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The jailed activist said that he was handed a letter from Russia’s Investigative Committee informing him of the new charges against him.
According to Russia’s Criminal Code, Navalny was charged with two counts of “vandalism,” a crime that is punishable by up to one year of hard labor for individuals and up to three years in prison for groups.
“It means that they really initiate a new criminal case against me every three months. Rarely an inmate, confined to a solitary cell for over a year, has such a vibrant social and political existence,” Navalny said.
According to his allies, the new vandalism charges mark the 14th criminal case brought against Navalny.
“Nevertheless, this seems to be a case of positive feedback, as scientists would say. If this Kremlin gang of corruptors, traitors and occupiers does not like something that I (we) do, then I am on [the] right path,” he continued.
Navalny was jailed in 2021 after returning to Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent. He and his allies blame the poisoning on the Kremlin, which has denied a role in the incident.
In August, a court handed him a 19-year jail term, accusing him of having created an organization that undermined public security by carrying out “extremist activities.”
