Navalny's New Trial Threatens Decades of Imprisonment.

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared before a Russian court to defend himself against new charges of extremism that could extend his prison term by decades. Navalny contested the authority of the Moscow city court judge to try him in a penal colony far from the capital and demanded that his parents be allowed inside the hearing. The Kremlin denies trying to break him to silence his criticism of President Vladimir Putin. Russia has outlawed Navalny’s campaign organisation as part of a crackdown on dissent that started well before the conflict in Ukraine and has intensified in the nearly 16 months since it started.