Lawyer claims Russia’s Supreme Court plans to give Navalny and Ofitserov real terms in prison
Lawyer Svetlana Davydova has said that the Supreme Court intends to sentence defendants Alexei Navalny and Peter Ofitserov to real terms in prison in the retrial of the Kirovles case, reported news source Mediazona, citing a January 23 statement made by Davydova requesting that judge Alexey Vtyurin be taken off the case.
According Davydova, she heard employees speaking in the halls of the Kirov’s Lenin district court about the visit of court chairman Konstantin Zaytsev to the Supreme Court where Zaytsev was told that “no one [would] be let go”.
Vtyurin denied Davydova’s request for him to step down, noting that he is independent and that chairman Zaytsev did not influence his decision.
Vtyurin has scheduled hearings on the Kirovles case for all work days starting from January 23. Earlier, hearings were often postponed because the lawyers of the accused were otherwise engaged. But all of their other dealings have not be put on hold. According to Navalny’s lawyer Vadim Kobzev, this is done to speed up the process.
In 2013, Alexey Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov received suspended sentences on charges of embezzlement in the Kirovles case.
The company Kirovles sought 16 million rubles (approximately $261,600) in damages from the accused.
In October 2015, Moscow’s Nikulinskiy District Court ruled in favour of the prosecution. The defense considered this the decision to be illegal and challenged it at a higher court.
In February 2016, the European Court of Human Right found that the Russian court has violated Navalny and Ofitserov’s rights in condemning them for action that it considered indistinguishable from ordinary business activities.
In November 2016, Russia’s Supreme Court overturned the suspended sentences previously issued against the Navalny and Ofitserov in light of the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
A retrial for the Kirovles case began on December 5, 2016.
On December 13, 2016, Navalny announced his bid to run in Russia’s 2018 presidential election.