MOSCOW – A court in Moscow has ordered Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, to be arrested in absentia, her spokesperson said Tuesday. The Basmanny District Court in Moscow accused Navalnaya of “participation in an extremist organization,” her spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a post on social media. She has also been added to an international wanted list, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

In addition, the court granted a request by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation to detain Navalnaya. The period of detention would be calculated from the moment of possible extradition to Russian territory or from her detention on Russian territory, according to a press release. Navalnaya does not live in Russia.

Alexey Navalny died on February 16 in the penal colony in Siberia where he was serving a 19-year sentence after being found guilty of creating an extremist community, financing extremist activists and various other crimes in August. He was already serving sentences of 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility on fraud and other charges he had always denied and claimed were politically motivated.

Navalny was Russia’s highest-profile opposition leader and spent years criticizing Putin, who has been in power for nearly a quarter of a century, at great personal risk. His death came weeks before the country’s presidential elections scheduled to begin nationwide on March 15, which is widely seen by the international community as little more than a formality that will secure Putin a fifth term in power.

Navalny’s death was met with grief and anger across the world as well as inside Russia, where the smallest acts of political dissent carry huge risks. He returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated after being poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent. On arrival Navalny was swiftly arrested – on charges he dismissed as politically motivated – and spent the rest of his life in prison. His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin in February of being responsible for his death and indicated she would pick up her husband’s mantle, for a “happy, beautiful Russia.” (CNN) …[+]

MANHATTAN  –  Prosecutors in the United States have said they anticipate a November retrial for Harvey Weinstein as they investigate “additional violent sexual assaults” they say were committed by the disgraced Hollywood movie producer.

Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said in a hearing in New York state criminal court in Manhattan that the additional assaults Weinstein is accused of committing were still within the statute of limitations to be charged as crimes.

She told Justice Curtis Farber that prosecutors have not yet brought their findings to a grand jury and said she could not provide the court with a timeline for when their investigation will be complete.

“The people are still investigating in a trauma-informed matter,” Blumberg said. “That is an ongoing process.”

Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2020 in a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct. More than 80 women had come forward to accuse Weinstein of crimes and sexual misconduct.

A jury in February 2020 found the 72-year-old Miramax film studio co-founder sexually assaulted former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.

He was sentenced to 23 years in prison, but the New York Court of Appeals in April found that Judge James Burke, who presided over the trial, made a critical mistake by allowing three women to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that were not part of the criminal charges against him.

The court said that testimony about “prior bad acts” violated Weinstein’s right to a fair trial. Weinstein has denied having non-consensual encounters with anyone.

During Tuesday’s court hearing, his lawyer Arthur Aidala said it was unfair for prosecutors to seek to add additional victims to the case after the conviction was overturned and suggested the investigation was a delay tactic from prosecutors.

Weinstein is suffering from a host of medical problems while being held in solitary confinement at New York City’s Rikers Island jail, Aidala said. The next pre-trial hearing was set for July 19. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Harvey Weinstein appears in court in New York City. (Reuters) …[+]