A Russian court opened a new trial of jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny on Monday that he and his supporters say could add another 30 years to his prison sentence.
A judge began the hearing inside the strict-regime prison colony where Navalny is already serving a nine-year term for fraud and contempt of court. Russian prosecutors have now charged him with founding an “extremist” group and six other related criminal counts.
Journalists who traveled to the prison about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Moscow were barred from the courtroom and permitted to watch proceedings only via a video link in a separate building. Navalny’s parents were also refused entry to the court, the Mediazona news website reported.
