September 9, 2022, 22:07 PM
September 9, 2022, 22:07 PM
Washington accused Moscow on Friday of not respecting the rights of imprisoned opponent Alexei Navalni, Vladimir Putin’s main critic, and in particular of not letting him “communicate freely with his lawyer.”
“The United States is deeply concerned that the russian government interferes arbitrarily and increasingly with the rights of Alexei Navalni”State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
“The prison authorities hindered the preparation of his defense and his ability to communicate freely with his lawyer,” for example by monitoring their meetings or causing delays in document exchanges between the two, it added.
It is “new proof of the politically motivated harassment” suffered by the opponent, as well as his “repeated isolation for alleged minor infractions.”
This situation shows “the fear” that exists “towards those who tell the truth” in Russia, Price sentenced, again requesting the immediate release of the opponent.
Navalni said Thursday that he was barred from having confidential talks with his lawyers.
According to him, each document exchanged with your defense will be from now on subjected to a “verification for three days” by the prison administration.
“In truth, there is nothing left, formally, of my rights to defense, which were in themselves quite illusory,” the 46-year-old Navalni lamented.
In March he was sentenced to nine years in prison under a “strict” regime for accusations of diversion of funds.
