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Libel charges against opposition blogger Navalny suspended, says lawyer

Criminal libel charges filed in 2016 against Russian opposition activist Alexey Navalny were suspended on October 15

Alexey Navalny Dmitriy Serebryakov/TASS

Alexey Navalny

© Dmitriy Serebryakov/TASS

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. Criminal libel charges filed in 2016 against Russian opposition activist Alexey Navalny were suspended on Monday, his lawyer Vadim Kobzoyev told TASS.

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"An investigator called me in the morning to summon (me) for pressing charges against Alexey Navalny in an old criminal libel case against ex-investigator Pavel Karpov. We appeared, but no investigative action was taken, yet the detective said he would contact us without saying when," the lawyer added.

He stated that the statute of limitations may have expired or that this was related to ‘media hype’.

Karpov himself told TASS that the case was launched in 2016. "Pursuant to the decision on initiating criminal proceedings, on November 6 and December 11 of 2015 and on April 26, 2016, Navalny and other unidentified persons planted information on social media alleging that I had committed crimes on a large or especially large scale. This information is not true, it discredits my honor, dignity and business reputation, which is why I appealed to law enforcement agencies," Karpov explained.

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