Navalny, who has been imprisoned since 2021, will now spend a total of 19 years in a penal colony after a Russian court found him guilty of founding and funding an extremist organisation and activities.
Maxim Shipenkov/PAP/EPA

Poland’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the sentencing of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to an additional term in prison.

Navalny, who has been imprisoned since 2021, will now spend a total of 19 years in a penal colony after a Russian court found him guilty of founding and funding an extremist organisation and activities.

The Kremlin critic, who has become Russia’s most high-profile political prisoner, was already serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court.

He has denied all charges and claimed the cases brought against him were politically motivated.

Reacting to the latest sentencing, the Polish Foreign Ministry wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter:

“The sentencing of A. Navalny by a Russian court to 19 years in prison is another example of the degradation of human rights in Russia.”

The ministry added that the “MFA strongly condemns the verdict against the Russian oppositionist and expresses deep concern over the further deterioration of the human rights in Russia.”

Navalny will see out his sentence in a penal colony run under a special regime, and designed to hold the most dangerous prisoners.

He has repeatedly complained about the conditions in the penal colony, calling them torture.