The Russian Federal Prison Service said in a statement on Monday that by staying in Germany after “recovering from his illness”, Navalny is violating the terms of his suspended sentence. The opposition politician believes that the case is politically motivated.
“Based on [Lancet] publication, AA Navalny was discharged from the Charite Clinic on September 20, 2020, and by October 12, all symptoms of her illness had passed, “says the statement from the Federal Prison Service.
“Thus, the convicted person is not conditionally fulfilling the obligations attributed to him by the court and is beyond the control of criminal supervision [service]. “
The service adds that Navalny was ordered to appear at the criminal control center in Russia; otherwise, he will be responsible and his suspended sentence will be replaced by a real one.
Navalny’s lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, tweeted on Monday night that he received an order from the criminal control services ordering Navalny to appear in Moscow at 9 am on Tuesday.
The case in question, often dubbed the “Yves Roche case”, dates back to 2014, when Alexey Navalny and his brother Oleg were convicted of embezzling about $ 500,000 from two Russian companies between 2008 and 2012. One of the companies was an affiliate to a French cosmetics company, Yves Rocher, and the investigation alleged that the Navalnys laundered part of the amount. Both were sentenced to three and a half years in prison, but Alexey’s sentence was suspended.
Navalny responded to the news in an Instagram post saying, “As I said, somewhere there is [Vladimir] Putin in his bunker, stomping and shouting ‘Why didn’t he die?’ and if he didn’t die, he’s twice guilty and now we’re going to arrest him. “
“But if The Lancet is being recognized at the state level, where is the criminal case for poisoning ?!” he added.
Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, tweeted: “It’s just fantastic. The Prison Service knowing full well that Navalny is being treated in Germany is trying to catch the last train (Alexey’s trial period ends on December 30th!) And he demands that he report for inspection tomorrow! “
The State Department did not explain why the United States did not inflict any costs on Russia for this poisoning or issued a statement earlier. Wednesday’s statement came after repeated requests for comment from CNN.