Russian courts handed down sentences to two more defendants in the so-called “Sanitary Case,” on Friday August 6.
Moscow’s Preobrazhensky District Court gave Oleg Navalny, the brother of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny, a one year suspended sentence with a one-year probationary period.
Earlier, prosecutors sought a one-year suspended sentence with a three-year probationary period for Navalny.
Navalny’s defense lawyers said that they plan to challenge the verdict.
Earlier in the day on Friday, former Navalny staffer Nikolai Lyaskin was handed one year of “restrictions on freedom,” a parole-lik sentence. The court banned Lyaskin from leaving his home between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., as well as from participating in public gatherings, and from traveling outside of Moscow and the Moscow region without permission.
The state prosecution had requested two years of restrictions on freedom for Lyaskin.
State investigators launched the “Sanitary Case” in January 2021, accusing ten of Alexey Navalny’s associates of inciting violations of pandemic restrictions in connection with a pro-Navalny rally that took place in Moscow on January 23. According to the investigation, the defendants in the case called for people to attend rally, thereby provoking violations of sanitary and epidemiological rules.
In June, the Russian Investigative Committee dropped the “Sanitary Case” charges against municipal deputy Konstantin Yankauskas; this came shortly after the politician announced that he wouldn’t be running in the upcoming State Duma elections.
On August 3, Lyubov Sobol was handed one and a half years of “restrictions on freedom” as part of the “Sanitary Case.” The court banned Sobol from leaving her home between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., as well as from attending public gatherings, and traveling outside of Moscow and the Moscow region. Prosecutors had sought two years of restricted freedom for Sobol.
In December 2014, Oleg Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in a prison colony as part of the “Yves Rocher Case.” His brother, Alexey Navalny, received a suspended sentence. Oleg Navalny was released from prison in June 2018.