The Moscow Court Rejected Navalny’s Appeal Against the Prison Sentence

The Moscow court rejected Navalny’s appeal against the prison sentence. The opposition politician has to be behind bars for around two and a half years for alleged fraud, and that means prison camp.

The approach taken against the Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny has already been criticized more than once as being disproportionately harsh. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has now spoken out in favour of preparing further EU sanctions against Russia.

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) has spoken out in favour of introducing new sanctions against Russia because of the latest developments in the Alexej Navalny case. “We made it clear when Navalny was poisoned that we are not prepared to accept a breach of international law, and we have imposed sanctions,” said Maas on Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

In particular, due to the conviction of Navalny and the fact that he had to spend his imprisonment in a penal camp, the question of sanctions now arises again. “I am in favour of giving the order here to prepare such sanctions and listings of individuals,” said Maas. They would then include asset freezes and EU entry bans.

According to diplomats, the EU foreign ministers want to make a fundamentally political decision on new sanctions against Russia on Monday. Specifically, the punitive measures should only be worked out later.

The EU wants to use its new sanctions regime for human rights violations for the first time. At the same time, Maas also called for a dialogue with Moscow. “We need Russia to resolve many international conflicts,” he said.