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Russian prosecutor demands 5-year suspended sentence for Navalny in Kirovles case

The prosecutor said Navalny’s guilt has been fully established

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Prosecutor demands a five-year suspended sentence for Russian opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny for embezzling funds of the Kirovles company.

During Friday’s hearing at the Leninsky district court in Kirov, in the central part of European Russia, the prosecutor said Navalny’s guilt has been fully established. He also demanded a four-year suspended sentence for Navalny’s accomplice Pyotr Ofitserov, the former head of Vyatka Forest Company. The prosecutor said both men should pay an additional fine.

"I consider that Navalny’s guilt in organizing the misappropriation and embezzlement of Kirovles property and Ofitserov’s guilt as an accomplice in committing the crime has been established in full by the court," he said.

The prosecutor suggested that the company should seek compensation of damage worth 16 mln rubles ($269,000) through civil litigation.

In July 2013, Navalny was found guilty of embezzling the funds of Kirovles company in the Kirov region and given a five-year suspended sentence as part of the Kirovles case. The second defendant Ofitserov received a four-year suspended sentence. Both of them were also ordered to pay a 500,000 ruble ($7,800) fine.

In mid-November 2016, the presidium of Russia’s Supreme Court overturned the sentence against Navalny in the Kirovles case. The case was transferred to the Leninsky district court in Kirov for a retrial.