Alexei Navalny Expects Prison Term In Russia

By Katie Stallard, Russia Correspondent, in Kirov

The trial of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has resumed, with the defence team questioning the independence of the presiding judge.

Lawyers for the 36-year-old blogger told the court in Kirov, 600 miles northeast of Moscow, added that the state's case is so vague their client does not know what he is charged with.

The defence team requested an adjournment to the trial and urged that the judge be removed from the case.

Navalny spoke to the media and supporters after a hearing on April 17

But the judge dismissed the defence complaints and praised the prosecution's work in bringing the case to trial.

The defence team quoted rights recognised in the Russian constitution for a fair trial and unbiased judge - claiming the judge has already decided on a guilty verdict.

Ahead of a short recess on Wednesday afternoon the prosecution said it saw no grounds to dismiss the judge.

People in the packed courtroom on Wednesday included observers from the US embassy and the European Union.

Navalny claims the case has been personally ordered by President Vladimir Putin to discredit his anti-corruption work and disqualify him from running for public office.

"First, this is political revenge for my and my foundation's investigations in the fight against corruption," Navalny told the packed courtroom after the judge announced his decisions.

"Second, it is political revenge for my and my supporters' campaign to 'Vote for any party except (Putin's) United Russia.'"

Posted about Navalny were placed around the city of Kirov

In a supporting statement given to Sky News, ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky also slammed the Navalny trial as being politically motivated.

Khodorkovsky, one of Russia's richest men before being remanded in custody in 2003 and jailed in 2005 on charges of embezzlement, said: "In an honest and fair trial, such charges would be untenable and their political motivation obvious.

"The objective is clear – to intimidate and demoralise opponents, and politically active voters, and to present the peaceful civil protest and constitutional fight for power- as something marginal and extremist."

Blogger Navalny recently announced he wants to run for the presidency and change the way Russia is ruled, but a guilty verdict in Kirov would bar him from standing and could see him sent to prison for up a decade.

He is accused of embezzling 16m rubles (£330,000) from a state-owned timber company in Kirov, when he worked as an adviser to the regional governor here in 2009.

Alexei Navalny has become a vocal critic of the ruling elite

Navalny has published his accounts from the time on his blog, which he says clearly prove his innocence, nevertheless he fully expects to be convicted and is preparing himself for jail.

The judge presiding over his trial has yet to return a 'not guilty' verdict, putting him slightly above the national judicial average of a 99% conviction rate.

Speaking ahead of his first hearing last week, Navalny told reporters: "I'm absolutely sure it will end in a guilty verdict.

"They've already decided everything, including the sentence.

"They're interested in some kind of public relations, to say on television that the man who for years has been accusing us of corruption is corrupt himself. By them, I mean Putin."

People outside the court in Kirov, 600 miles northeast of Moscow

President Putin's spokesman has declined to comment on the case.

Navalny has been campaigning against corruption by state officials and companies since 2007, but it was his role in mass street protests following disputed election results in 2011 that brought him to prominence, and to the attention of the Kremlin.

A trained lawyer with an ear for a soundbite, Navalny coined the slogan "party of crooks and thieves" for Mr Putin's United Russia and labelled the president himself "Chief Thief", firing up a new generation of young, internet-savvy protesters and earning himself a rock star following among the opposition.

His anti-corruption investigations have since claimed the scalps of several of Mr Putin's allies, including the head of his parliamentary Ethics Committee, who resigned after claims published on the Navalny's blog.

The father-of-two has said he does not want to go to prison, but is not afraid to do so, and has already planned what he will take with him; from velcro trainers (the laces would be confiscated) and slippers, to photos of his family to tape to the wall.

The blogger believes Vladimir Putin is behind the case

He said: "If you get into opposition politics, they can put you in jail. If you take on corruption, the easiest thing for these people is to put you in jail.

"Putin and his inner circle have realised that they have no levers left at their disposal to keep control of the political system except repression.

"They see the decline in (Putin's) ratings and the growing discontent, and the protests continue ... They will crush anyone who objects to Putin being president for life."

Navalny's case has been compared to that of Khodorkovsky - who is still being held near the town of Segezha in the Karelia region, bordering Finland.

According to his lawyers, the prison was constructed in the Soviet era by the forced labour of gulag inmates.

Khodorkovksy's legal team maintains the case against him was fabricated after he strayed from the realm of business into politics.

But the former tycoon has continued to campaign from his prison cell, and jailing Navalny runs a similar risk of uniting opposition protesters behind him and turning him into a popular martyr.

An independent poll last month found only 37% of Russians knew who Alexei Navalny was, but that is a substantial increase on 6% two years ago.

It is a significant proportion for a man without access to the mechanism of state-controlled media in Russia.

The gamble for the authorities is that the trial, and presumably conviction, of Alexei Navalny, will only boost his popularity and give him a new platform from which to campaign.

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