The trial of a Russian opposition leader accused of embezzling half a million dollars’ worth of timber from a state-run company was adjourned shortly after its start Wednesday in a northwestern city.
Lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, who spearheaded anti-government protests in 2011, and his former colleague are accused of leading an organized criminal group that embezzled 16 million rubles ($500,000) worth of timber from a state-owned company in the city of Kirov.
The charges not only threaten to send the 36-year-old Navalny to prison, but strike at the essence of his image as an anti-corruption activist.
Navalny says the charges are an act of revenge for his exposure of high-level corruption.
Navalny’s lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, asked the court in her opening remarks to adjourn the trial for a month because her client was not given enough time to read the case files.
Mikhailova also contested the court’s refusal to submit financial documents that could prove that what the prosecutors describe as embezzlement was a regular business deal.
Even before Navalny became a key figure in the anti-government protests that erupted in 2011, the lawyer was a persistent thorn in the establishment’s side with his extensive blogging on Russia’s staggering high-level corruption.
Authorities admit the trial is connected to his prominent activities, although they deny overt political motivations.
AP
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