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Moscow inspectors ask court to extend Navalny’s probation period by one year

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Moscow’s penal inspection has filed a request to the court on extending a probation period for Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny by one year, the federal prison authority told TASS on Monday.

The penal inspection said on June 12 Navalny committed an offence under Article 20.2.8 of the Russian Criminal Code (violating order of holding rallies) and Moscow’s Simonovsky district court ruled that he should serve a 25-day administrative arrest.

The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) said Navalny, who was released from custody on July 7, has been warned about a possible cancellation of his suspended sentence. "With the goal of preventing Navalny from committing repeated offences the Moscow penal inspection has sent a motion to the court on extending his probation period by a year," it said.

Media reports said on June 11 that the Simonovsky court earlier received a petition from the deputy head of the FSIN penal inspection in Moscow to overturn Navalny’s suspended sentence to real jail.

In turn, court’s spokesman Viktor Vasilyev said that the judicial panel returned the lawsuit as it had not been signed by the proper person. On the same day, the FSIN refuted media reports that it applied to the court to overturn Navalny’s suspended sentence.

The FSIN numerously requested the court earlier to replace Navalny’s suspended sentence with a real prison term but none of the attempts crowned with success.

On December 30, 2014, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court found the Navalny brothers guilty of embezzling Yves Rocher funds and handed Alexey Navalny a suspended sentence of 3 years and 6 months tacking it along with a probation period of five years. His brother Oleg Navalny was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months behind bars.