MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Russia’s Supreme Court has recognized the 19-year imprisonment sentence for Russian blogger Alexey Navalny for establishing an extremist organization as legitimate.

"The verdict of the Moscow City Court of August 4, 2023 and the appellate decision of the general jurisdiction First Court of Appeals of September 26, 2023 have been left unchanged," the court’s press service said.

In August 2023, the Moscow City Court sentenced Navalny to 19 years in a high-security penal colony. He was found guilty of establishing an extremist organization and participating in it (part 3, article 282.1 of the Russian Criminal Code), as well as of financing extremist activities, organizing an extremist community, public calls for extremist activities and involving minors into dangerous action.

Former technical director of Navalny’s YouTube channel Daniel Kholodny was also found guilty of financing extremist activities with the use of his office and of participating in an extremist community. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The case was considered by the Moscow City Court but it held its sessions at the high-security penal colony in the village of Melekhovo in the Vladimir Region, where Navalny was serving time on other charges. The trial was held behind closed doors to prevent potential provocations against its participants and because it involved secret witnesses. Following the verdict in the extremism case, Navalny was transferred to a penal colony in the village of Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area in the north of Western Siberia, where he died in March 2024 after feeling sick following a walk.