Jailed Putin critic hit with new charges

MOSCOW — Russian authorities have filed new criminal charges against imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, part of a government crackdown on the corruption fighter and his beleaguered team ahead of Russia’s parliamentary election.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said Wednesday that it has charged Navalny with creating a nonprofit organization that infringes on people’s rights, a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison.

Officials alleged that Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which was started 10 years ago and has since published dozens of widely watched videos exposing the alleged corruption of senior government officials, incited Russians “to perform unlawful actions” by urging them to join unauthorized protests in January.

The 45-year-old Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most ardent foe, was arrested in January and ordered to serve 2½ years in prison for violating the terms of a suspended sentence from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that he dismissed as politically motivated.

His arrest and jailing sparked a wave of mass protests that appeared to pose a major challenge to the Kremlin. Authorities responded with mass arrests.

In June, a court outlawed the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of Navalny’s regional offices as extremist organizations. The designation barred people associated with the groups from seeking public office.

Some of Navalny’s top associates had planned to run in the Sept. 19 parliamentary election.