By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – Anti-Putin blogger and Moscow mayoral candidate Aleksei Navalny is released from detention pending an appeal of his five-year prison sentence. Deputy Director Rachel Denber of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch stated that she was shocked at Navalny’s sentence, but not his guilty verdict.
Aleksei Navalny is considered a charismatic Russian blogger and anti-corruption activist who, in November 2010, claimed that an embezzlement scheme drained a state-owned oil pipeline company of $4 billion. Russian President Putin and the head of the company denied Navalny’s allegations.
In 2009, as an advisor to the Kirov Regional Governor, Navalny allegedly imposed a deal on a state-owned company, Kirovles. The resulting contract required that timber be supplied through a commercial intermediary. Navalny’s old acquaintance, Pyotr Ofitserov owned the intermediary company. Prosecutors charged Navalny and Ofitserov with embezzling over $500,000 from the state.
Although an initial investigation found Navalny not at fault, head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin re-opened the case after Navalny released several documents suggesting that Bastrykin acquired a right to reside in the Czech Republic based on property unknown to Russian officials.
On 17 July 2013, Navalny became officially registered as a mayoral candidate in Moscow’s September 8 elections. The following day, a trial court found Navalny and Ofitserov guilty of embezzlement. Navalny received a five year sentence, and Ofitserov four years.
In Moscow, between 2500 and 5000 activists appeared to protest the conviction. Across Russia’s nine time zones, 25 similar rallies were reported.
Human rights activists quickly drew parallels between Navalny in Russia and Edward Snowden in the US.
“Of course, there were other cases that made that parallel obvious,” said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “On the day before Snowden met human rights groups in Moscow airport, Russia found Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax fraud, after he died. And Magnitsky was also a whistleblower. It’s certainly a dark day today. We knew that it was going to happen, but that doesn’t prepare you for the shock of seeing him led away in handcuffs.”
However, the prosecutors who argued to place Navalny in detention soon argued to release Navalny and Ofitserov until their appeals were decided. While Navalny thanked the protestors who “forced them to release Pyotr” and himself, analysts saw the prosecutors’ change of heart more likely the result of Navalny’s mayoral candidacy, which ends if he is imprisoned.
“For now, he is still a candidate — he can campaign, his headquarters can work. Even the Moscow Election Commission has said this on the basis of the law,” explained Russian election-law expert Leonid Kirichenko. Nevertheless, if upheld, Navalny’s conviction would bar him from holding public office.
Currently, Navalny is the strongest Putin opponent, and is speculated to become a presidential candidate if elected mayor.
Absent an upheld conviction, Navalny will have difficulty showing that Putin himself wants to remove Navalny as opposition. With a conviction, such showing is a fruitless endeavor.
For further information, please see:
RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty – Criticism of Navalny Trial Pours in from Russia, West – July 20, 2013
Bloomberg BusinessWeek – Putin Foe Navalny Vows Battle for Power on Return to Moscow – July 20, 2013
CNN International – What’s Behind Conviction of Russian Opposition Activist Aleksei Navalny? – July 20, 2013
Reuters – Navalny Embodies Generation of Rebellious Russians – July 20, 2013
RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty – News Analysis: Twists in Navalny Case Leave Heads Spinning – July 19, 2013
Huffington Post UK – Alexei Navalny Jailed: Fury in Moscow as Demonstrators Protest Five-Year Sentence – July 18, 2013
RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty – Explainer: What Comes Next for Aleksei Navalny? – July 18, 2013
Telegraph – Anger as Russian Activist Aleksei Navalny is Sentenced to Five Years – July 18, 2013
