A Russian judge yesterday said that opposition leader Alexei Navalny was guilty of embezzlement over a timber deal, Interfax news agency reported, a decision that may force the activist to drop his plan to run in next year’s presidential election.
The judge at the court in the city of Kirov was still reading his verdict, but it was clear from his remarks Navalny would be found guilty, the agency said.
Navalny said during a break that the new verdict repeated word for word a 2013 court ruling which the European Court of Human Rights found had violated his rights.
“They were too lazy to write another one. It was a demonstration that they don’t give a damn about the European court and can take the old verdict,” the 40-year-old lawyer said.
The European court had said the politician and his codefendant, businessman Pyotr Ofitserov, did not have a fair trial and the Russian Supreme Court ordered a retrial.
Verdict hearings in Russian courts can take hours and sometimes days as judges are required to read many of the case materials out loud before ruling on them.
Prosecutors have asked for a five-year suspended sentence, which is what he received in the original trial.
Under Russian law, Navalny would be banned from running for office for 10 years if convicted of a serious crime.
The opposition leader says the prosecution is aimed at barring him from political activity. The Kremlin denies that.
Additional reporting by AFP
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