Russian prosecutors in Kirov’s Leninsky Court opposed a motion to drop the embezzlement case against opposition blogger Alexei Navalny on Monday, the Moscow Times reports.
Navalny’s lawyers called for the charges to be dropped based on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the TASS news agency reported.
«The European court recognized grave violations of Navalny’s rights, which does not allow for the consideration of this case,» said Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova.
On Nov. 16, Russia’s Supreme Court overturned the verdict in the so-called KirovLes case against Navalny and his co-defendant Pyotr Ofitserov. The Supreme Court is currently carrying out an examination of the ECHR’s decision, which said that the Russian government violated the defendants’ right to a fair trial. Prosecutors in Kirov want to retry the case.
Alexei Navalny was convicted of embezzlement in the KirovLes case in 2013 and given a suspended five-year sentence. His co-defendant, Pyotr Ofitserov, received a four-year suspended sentence. The trial of Navalny has frequently been criticized as politically motivated and connected with Navalny’s work as an opposition blogger and activist.