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Court in Moscow to read out sentence on oppositionist Alexei Navalny charged with libel

The municipal deputy Lisovenko addressed in law enforcement agencies after the blogger accused him of drug addiction

Alexei Navalny ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

Alexei Navalny

© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

MOSCOW, April 22, /ITAR-TASS/. Justice court of Moscow City’s Babushkinsky district is expected to read out a sentence on the Russian off-parliament oppositionist Alexei Navalny, who is charged with libel.

A criminal case against Navalny was instituted upon a lawsuit filed by Alexei Lisovenko, a municipal deputy, over Navalny’s tweet that the man was allegedly suffering from drug addiction.

Navalny, a popular blogger, refused to admit his guilt in the course of court deliberations.

“I’m staying under house arrest, the terms of which prohibit communications by way of social networks and my Twitter account is currently supervised by staff members of the Fund for Struggle with Corruption,” he said.

Lisovenenko demands on his part that the court sentence Navalny to public works, the amount of which is to be determined by Justice Anna Nekryach.

Navalny is currently staying under house arrest and his brother, under written recognizance not to leave.

Last year, Navalny was issued a sentence under a case of the Vyatka forestry company. He was awarded a suspended jail term of five years. His business partner, the former president of the company, Pyotr Ofitserov was issued a suspended sentence for four years in jail.

Navalny is also featured in a criminal case related to Yves Rocher company. If found guilty, he may end up in jail for ten years.

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