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		</div><p>Russian authorities are seeking a 13-year prison sentence for opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a trial Kremlin critics see as an attempt to keep President Vladimir Putin’s most ardent foe in prison for as long as possible.</p>
<p>Navalny, who is already serving two and a half years in a penal colony east of Moscow, has been charged with fraud and contempt of court.</p>
<p>The prosecution accuses him of embezzling money that he and his foundation raised over the years and of insulting a judge during a previous trial.</p>
<p>Navalny has rejected the allegations as politically motivated.</p>
<p>In their closing arguments on Tuesday, the prosecution asked for 13 years in a maximum security prison for the anti-corruption crusader and a 1.2 million-rouble (roughly £8,200) fine.</p>
<p>It is not immediately clear if Navalny is expected to serve this sentence concurrently with his current punishment, or on top of it.</p>
<p>Navalny’s top ally, Leonid Volkov, who has left Russia where he is facing multiple criminal cases himself, claimed in a Facebook post that the authorities want the politician to remain in prison “until the end of the life of one of the two people – Navalny himself or Vladimir Putin”.</p>
<p>After the prosecution’s closing arguments, the judge announced a brief recess before hearing the defence’s statements.</p>
<p>The trial, which opened exactly a month ago, unfolded in a makeshift courtroom in the prison colony hours away from Moscow where Navalny is serving a sentence for parole violations.</p>
<p>Navalny’s supporters have criticised the authorities’ decision to move the proceedings there from a courthouse in Moscow, saying it has effectively limited access to the proceedings for the media and supporters.</p>
<p>Navalny, 45, has appeared at hearings wearing prison garb and made several elaborate speeches during the trial, decrying the charges against him as bogus.</p>
<p>He was arrested in January 2021 immediately upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months convalescing from a poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, a claim Russian officials vehemently denied.</p>
<p>Shortly after the arrest, a court sentenced him to two and a half years in jail over the parole violations stemming from a 2014 suspended sentence in a fraud case that Navalny insists was politically driven.</p>
<p>Following Navalny’s imprisonment, authorities unleashed a sweeping crackdown on his associates and supporters.</p>
<p>His closest allies have left Russia after facing multiple criminal charges, and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of nearly 40 regional offices were outlawed as extremist – a designation that exposes people involved to prosecution.</p>
<p>Last month, Russian officials added Navalny and a number of his associates to a state registry of extremists and terrorists.</p>
<p>Several criminal cases have been launched against Navalny individually, leading his associates to suggest the Kremlin intends to keep him behind bars for as long as possible.</p>
<p>Members of Navalny’s defence team have complained they were not allowed to bring mobile phones or laptops containing case files into the courtroom at the penal colony.</p>
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