By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – Anti-corruption blogger and prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny is no stranger to butting heads with Russian authority. His stance as one of the leaders of the opposition movement against President Putin’s 13-year rule has already garnered Navalny three criminal investigations. However, on Wednesday, investigators levied a new accusation, accusing Navalny of having acquired his qualifications as a lawyer illegally. Navalny denied the charge.
The Federal Investigative Committee, which answers directly to President Putin, claimed that Navalny provided fraudulent information regarding the two year work experience required to qualify as a lawyer. The Committee took issue with the Navalny’s statement on his law application that he had obtained the necessary experience while he was the deputy director responsible for legal issues at Allekt, a company where he was also director.
The Committee explained in a statement on its website, “So he named himself both director and his own deputy,” and further claimed that Allekt did not exist when Navalny says he received his legal experience and that Navalny had refused to testify.
Navalny fired back on his blog, pointing out that the Committee’s statement was posted before the Committee had actually interviewed him. Navalny web activity had already drawn the ire of the Committee. He had previously used his blog to accuse Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykhin of hiding real estate and other investments in Europe.
Navalny asserted that there are no grounds for denying him his legal credentials and condemned the charges are politically motivated. Navalny’s lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, has further said his client received his status as a lawyer legally and that there were no reasons to deprive Navalny of his credentials.
Denouncing President Putin’s United Russia as “the party of crooks and thieves,” Navalny’s prominence and effectiveness in the opposition movement appear to have made him a target for a defensive government. Navalny claims that Putin abuses the justice system to persecute adversaries and the parliament to adopt laws to stifle opposition. Last week, a senior figure in the United Russia Party resigned after Navalny produced documents evidencing he had failed declare homes owned in the United States on his taxes.
Therefore, three pending investigations are currently underway against Navalny. He has been accused of stealing timber worth more than $500,000 from a state company in 2009; embezzling up to $3.24 million from a political party in 2007; and, along with his brother, cheating a mail-transport company out of $1.79 million.
Navalny, who worked in commercial law before becoming involved in political activism, became a lawyer in 2009 when working as an adviser to Nikita Belykh, currently the governor of the Kirov region and another prominent opposition figure.
After the Investigative Committee’s announcement, the Moscow Legal Chamber, which registers lawyers in the capital city, announced it would be investigating Navalny’s credentials.
On his blog, Navalny further ridiculed the Committee, calling the allegations old and baseless: “So far, all these complaints have been unsuccessful because they contain a load of garbage that is instantly exposed under critical examination.”
For further information, please see:
Moscow Times – Navalny Fraudulently Obtained Lawyer Credentials, Investigators Say – 28 February 2013
BBC – Russia’s Alexei Navalny Accused of New Fraud – 27 February 2013
Returns – Russia Piles Pressure on Opposition Leader With New Accusation – 27 February 2013
RFE/RL – Russian Opposition Leader’s Law Credentials Questioned – 27 February 2013
Live Journal – The Blog of Navalny in English, In Russian [Original]
