Navalny Back In Court For Slander Against World War Two Veteran

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On February 5^th, Alexey Navalny is, once again, in court for slander of a World War Two veteran.

At the beginning of the court proceedings, Navalny said that he was not at all familiar with the materials of the criminal case and asked to give him time to read them.

The court objected to this that the accused had had time since August to study the case, but still allowed a recess.

The veteran participates in the proceedings via video link. Navalny kept asking that the mask be removed.

Artemenko put on a medical mask, Navalny reacted to this. “Why is he sitting in a mask at home?” The accused asked the judge. He himself participates in the hearing in person, being in the “aquarium” of the court without handcuffs.

A criminal libel case against Navalny was opened in mid-June 2020. Prior to that, a video was published on one of the federal information resources in which Ignat Artemenko expressed his civil position on the changes to the Constitution of Russia.

Then, according to investigators, Navalny published this video on social networks, accompanied by comments that are deliberately false and discrediting the honor and dignity of the war veteran.

95yo Ignat Artemenko

At the end of August, the court decided to suspend the process due to the blogger’s illness – at that time he was in Germany, but he returned to Russia and was detained at the request of the Federal Penitentiary Service for violating the rules for serving a suspended sentence in another case.

The Simonovsky Court of Moscow on Tuesday ruled to cancel Navalny’s suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case and replace him with 3.5 years in a general regime colony. The FSIN insisted on this – according to the department, he repeatedly violated the conditions of the probationary period and was put on the wanted list before his arrest.

The court decision on Navalny has not yet entered into force. The Russian lawyer Vadim Kobzev confirmed that the defense would appeal against replacing his suspended sentence with a real one.

According to the Federal Penitentiary Service, over the past three years, Navalny has failed to report on time in the criminal enforcement inspectorate nearly 60 times, despite the fact that he was obliged to do so twice a month.

Regardless of the situation, diplomatic vehicles were parked at the courthouse, a British diplomat was present in court.

Asking why diplomats needed to be present at a libel case, the British Embassy called it “absolutely standard practice.”

The embassy’s Telegram channel posted a message stating that “in order to remove in advance the question of our diplomatic presence in the Babushkinsky court this morning, we answer here.”

“We confirm that the diplomat of the British Embassy in Moscow is present at the court session in the Babushkinsky Court of Moscow today.

“Once again, we want to note that the presence of diplomats at court hearings in their host country is absolutely standard practice, “the British Embassy’s channel said.

A French diplomat was also present.

MSM is also likely to condemn the hearing against Navalny, since this constitutes limiting freedom of speech and censorship, and continues the witch hunt. Those same voices were entirely silent when Navalny and his associates were grouping up to vilify a World War Two veteran.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• The People Vs Navalny: Russia Draws Red Lines To Foreign Meddling In Its Sovereign Affairs
• The People Vs. Navalny: Flag Carrier Of Western-Funded Anti-Russian Opposition Finally Faces Some Justice

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