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MOSCOW. — A court has found Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny guilty of embezzlement in a retrial, barring him from running in the 2018 presidential election. As the judge read out the sentence yesterday, Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova told journalists the conviction would prevent him from taking part in the election, which he registered for in November.
Vladimir Putin, who has been in power since the end of 1999, is widely expected to run for president again, and his approval ratings remain well above 80 percent.
In a trial widely seen as a means of silencing him, Navalny was convicted of embezzlement from a state timber company in Kirov in 2013, but he was allowed to run for mayor of Moscow while he appealed the ruling.
The 2013 verdict was sent for a retrial by the Russian supreme court after the European court of human rights found procedural violations in it last year.
“The judge will return and read the same thing, which says a lot about this trial,” Navalny told journalists during a break in proceedings.
As the judge read out the guilty verdict in full, the anti-corruption activist tweeted pages before the court heard them, claiming that the verdict was copied word for word from his first conviction.
In a blogpost yesterday, Navalny predicted the verdict would be guilty and that whatever the sentence it would hinder his political activity.
“I definitely know that it is guaranteed to not make political activity easier for me or for other independent politicians and activists,” he wrote.
“Yet another act of intimidation won’t affect everyone, but it will affect some, which is what this is all being done for.” The Guardian.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter