Lawyer and corruption fighter sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement of funds. Navalny appealed and spoke about the political nature of the process.
Russian political news, you may remember how in the small hall of the provincial court (he was like a school class, if not intended for three metal defendants cage) decided the fate of the last known opposition after the murder of Boris Nemtsov exactly two years ago.
Arrived back a free man Alexei Navalny, member of the presidential election in Russia in 2018, went back on their own, but carrying a sentence of five years probation for embezzlement of the funds by the end of not the first account of the process. In theory this decision, which adopted February 8, Kirovskiy court, negates his candidacy.
“We will continue our campaign and fight for a better Russia, in spite of this sentence, dictated from the Kremlin. We did not recognize and cancel,” said Navalny after the court. The fact is that according to the Russian Constitution in the election is to take place only prisoner.
Anyway, the path will be difficult, because the solution for a long time and I can barely hear it read out by the judge Aleksey vtyurin, according to the article 160 of the criminal code, that is, serious offences. And they, according to the electoral law, too, deprived of the human right to participate…
“What we saw today, is such a telegram, which came from the Kremlin” — syroniziroval the opposition, saying the case was fabricated in an attempt to oust him from politics. According to this lawyer, who had been engaged in exposing the corruption of the Russian government, this situation was a return to the starting point.
Navalny is a frequent guest in the courtroom
Admitting his guilt in the matter of “Kirovles”, the court almost word for word repeated announced in the 2013 sentence by the same process, which was then cancelled.
Alexei Navalny worked as an adviser to the Kirov Governor in 2009, and later he was charged with the theft of 400 thousand euros from the aforesaid company. In July 2013, he had with a colleague Pyotr Ofitserov was given five years in prison and a fine of 500 thousand rubles, but three months later the term was replaced with the conditional.
In February 2016 the Strasbourg court of human rights found a violation of the right to a fair trial and sentenced Russia to pay compensation to 79 thousand euros Alexei Navalny and his partner. The Russian Supreme court overturned the decision on appeal and immediately decided to start a new process. The result of the second trial in the matter of “Kirovles” ended the same way as the first.
Alexei Navalny has often been in the courtroom, but not in the legal profession. It seven times sentenced to administrative measures for participation in demonstrations, were put under house arrest, and even gave him three and a half years probation for embezzlement of funds of the Russian representation of French company Yves Rocher. Alexei’s brother Oleg was given the same term, but in the colony of strict regime, and now he’s serving it in the Orel region.
Nevertheless, this legal offensive was not intimidated Navalny, who puts on his website revealing video about the luxury of the property of Ministers and senior officials, as well as offering reasoned comments about their enrichment.
The audience of the founder of Fund of fight against corruption is gradually growing. In September 2013, during a case of “Kirovles” Navalny managed to our surprise to take second place in Moscow mayoral elections with 27% of votes.
A staunch opponent of Putin
Navalny, who comes from a nationalist circles today is itself an independent candidate and a staunch opponent of Vladimir Putin. 13 December 2016, he posted on the website of the campaign a three-minute video, which replaced the usual shirt on a dark business suit. And announced participation in the presidential elections.
“Those who are now in power, are in it for 17 years, and they ceased to respond to any comments, — said Navalny. — And the Kremlin and the government are only concerned about their financial matters. Therefore, they do not tolerate and prohibits any criticism.”
The next day the main fighter against corruption in the country made a startling announcement on the radio “Echo of Moscow”: “I believe that Putin and his family should be guaranteed immunity, and this should be an important condition for the transit of power”. About the same “guarantee” Putin unofficially provided Boris Yeltsin with the transfer of power in 1999…
“Yes, I said that if Putin had agreed on a peaceful transition of power, he ought to give immunity, — the oppositionist told Le Monde during a break between hearings in Kirov on 1 February. — It is a painful solution for any who is familiar with his corruption, and for me it is doubly painful, because my brother is in jail. However, sometimes you need to be able to forget about emotions…” But is there enough offered the Amnesty, the Kremlin agreed to allow him to participate?
Unpredictable troublemaker
The door may still be closed, but Alexei Navalny is perceived by the authorities as an unpredictable troublemaker. His fiercest criticism of the kindle fire in social networks, and many trials failed to tarnish his reputation in the eyes of supporters. A few dozen of them, mostly young people, gathered at its first campaign headquarters in St. Petersburg on 4 February. All around the country should be open more than 70 of these missions, says a friend of Navalny and his chief of staff Leonid Volkov.
On the other hand, the Kremlin would not hurt the enemy, which could enhance the credibility of the presidential elections 2018 (Vladimir Putin is still, by the way, has not officially declared his candidacy) and to bring to the polls losing interest in the voting population. This trend confirmed the September parliamentary elections, where the turnout for the first time fell below 50%.
In 2012, during Putin’s re-election amid large-scale protest movements which came into the game billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov took third place with 8% votes.
Only here today Alexei Navalny is far from the ideal profile of the opponent, even though, according to polls, his chances to compete for the head of state are negligible. In response to the Kirov process former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who found refuge in Europe after ten years in prison, commented on the situation: “the Government has decided that he does not want, and shadows problems in the elections.”
