Anti-Putin blogger charged with theft
Source: Agencies |
August 1, 2012, Wednesday
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RUSSIAN investigators charged opposition blogger and protest leader Alexei Navalny with theft yesterday, threatening one of President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken opponents with a 10-year jail sentence.
The federal Investigative Committee said in a statement that Navalny had been charged over the theft of timber from a state-owned company while he was advising a regional governor in 2009, and ordered him to stay in Russia.
"I have been charged and ordered not to leave," Navalny, 36, said after emerging from the Investigative Committee headquarters in Moscow. "This is really quite absurd and very strange because they have completely changed the essence of the accusation, compared to what it was before."
Lawyers for Navalny said last Friday they expected he would be charged over the case in Kirov Province, which was first opened in 2010. But they had expected him to face a different charge punishable by up to five years in jail.
Navalny, himself a lawyer, said on Twitter that he could now face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
He was among the leaders of large anti-Putin protests prompted by allegations of fraud in a parliamentary election last December that was won by Putin's United Russia party.
The federal Investigative Committee said in a statement that Navalny had been charged over the theft of timber from a state-owned company while he was advising a regional governor in 2009, and ordered him to stay in Russia.
"I have been charged and ordered not to leave," Navalny, 36, said after emerging from the Investigative Committee headquarters in Moscow. "This is really quite absurd and very strange because they have completely changed the essence of the accusation, compared to what it was before."
Lawyers for Navalny said last Friday they expected he would be charged over the case in Kirov Province, which was first opened in 2010. But they had expected him to face a different charge punishable by up to five years in jail.
Navalny, himself a lawyer, said on Twitter that he could now face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
He was among the leaders of large anti-Putin protests prompted by allegations of fraud in a parliamentary election last December that was won by Putin's United Russia party.
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