MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Monday it will support the motion of the Federal Penitentiary Service to replace opposition blogger Alexey Navalvy’s suspended sentence under the Yves Rocher case with a real prison term.
The office recalled that in the period from January 1 to August 17, 2020 Navalny repeatedly skipped obligatory visits to the penitentiary inspection office and had been dodging mandatory control since September 24, 2020 after his release from Berlin’s Charite clinic. For this reason, the Federal Penitentiary Service put him on a wanted list and lodged a motion with court to change the punitive measure. "This motion was recognized as lawful and grounded. Bearing the above said in mind, the Prosecutor General’s Office will uphold its position in court," the press service said.
It also recalled that on August 4, 2017, Moscow’s Simonovsky District Court ruled to extend Navalny’s probation term for one year, i.e. until December 29, 2020, because of his repeated dodging registration with penitentiary bodies and three administrative offense cases. Apart from that, on June 2, 2020, i.e. before the expiration of his probation term, Navalny defamed a World War II veteran, or committed an offense punishable under part 2, article 1281 of the Russian Criminal Code. The criminal case is currently at court.
A spokesman for the Federal Penitentiary Service’s Moscow department told TASS earlier, Navalny was obliged to appear at penitentiary inspection office at least twice a month on the days appointed by the penitentiary inspection. However, he skipped such obligatory visits at least six times in 2020, namely on Janury 13, January 27, February 3, March 16, July 6 and August 17. Official warnings about possible replacement of the suspended sentence by a real prison term were issued in each of these cases.
Navalny was not summoned for registration during the period of his treatment at Berlin’s Charite clinic. However, according to official reports from it, he was released on September 23, 2020. He did not reply to a summons for October 23. Only a month later, i.e. on November 23, he notified the penitentiary authorities that he was staying at Berlin’s Hotel Arabel for a rehabilitation period. However, no official documents confirming his undergoing treatment were provided, whereas the mere fact of undergoing rehabilitation is not a sufficient ground to skip registration with penitentiary bodies.
According to deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Anatoly Yakunin, such court motions are generally practiced. Thus, in 2019 alone, courts revoked more than 15,000 suspended sentences to replace them with actual prison terms.
On December 30, 2014, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court handed Navalny a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence with a probation period of five years and a fine of 500,000 rubles (6,800 US dollars) on charges of fraud and money legalization under the Yves Rocher case. On April 25, 2018, the Russian Supreme Court upheld the verdict as legal and grounded.