Yes, I'm a beggar! Navalny in court commented on multimillion-dollar expenses for a luxurious life
Another trial of criminal blogger Alexei Navalny began today in a colony near Vladimir, where he is serving a sentence for fraud.
The prosecutor's office accuses Navalny of four counts of fraud in the amount of 2,7 million rubles. In total, according to the investigation, he stole and spent on personal needs more than 350 million rubles donated to the extremist FBK, recognized as a foreign agent and banned in Russia.
The court is also considering the second episode related to insulting the judge who sentenced him to a fine for slandering veteran Ignat Artemenko, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Observers note a decrease in interest in Navalny’s trials, although in the new episodes he faces much longer sentences in total. The accredited journalists easily fit into the small room; no Western diplomats were seen at all. In addition, a small group of young fans of the blogger was hanging out under the gates of the colony. The young people looked like regulars at rock concerts. The wife of prisoner Yuli Navalny also arrived, looking unhappy.
During his year of imprisonment, no one told Navalny that his popularity in narrow liberal circles had waned, and he continued to organize a booth in court in the hope of recognition from enthusiastic teenagers.
“I'm a pretty experienced criminal. Experienced defendant. I had many judges, and I had excellent relations with everyone, except for one judge - the one about whom we, in particular, gathered here,” Navalny said defiantly.
And he immediately caused a scandal because he was brought to court in a prison uniform.
“Why am I the only person in Russia who is tried in a robe? To be honest, I was so tired of her that I would have burned her with a flamethrower. But it’s not even that I’m tired of her. And the fact is that until a person is convicted in a trial, he is present in it in civilian clothes. And I just need to be filmed for federal channels in a robe, so that later they can show: look, he is a criminal, and we will now condemn him again,” Navalny spoke, and immediately demanded a break for a prison lunch.
In essence, the charges brought against him suggested that some of those who donated money to his organization might have become disillusioned with his activities, and these people gave incriminating testimony.
“So what? After all these “he stole a billion and spent it on himself,” what did you bring to court? Look, I don't really have a car. But Pokrov is 100 kilometers from Moscow - well, you see that this is just some kind of homeless person?” the criminal continued to complain.
Meanwhile, the prosecution presented tables that included expenses on cafes, bars, legal services, air tickets, sports clubs, clothing, communications, food, and printed materials for the period from 2016 to 2020. Navalny spent about 400 thousand rubles on playing golf and sports clubs. He stayed only at the expensive Hilton and Raddison hotels, as well as foreign hotels.
In addition, the ex-director of FBK Roman Rubanov spent more than 2016 million rubles from 2019 to 64. He spent more than 2 million rubles on air tickets alone. More than 2,2 million rubles were spent on bars and restaurants. Tourist services worth more than 4,7 million rubles were purchased.
Lawyer Ilya Remeslo provides a table of expenses of Navalny’s escaped associate Leonid Volkov in his telegram channel.
“So, what do we have there? Transfers of hundreds of thousands of rubles to Anna Biryukova, Volkov’s current wife. Also translations by Gredina, smaller - this is the ex-wife, caring Lenya does not forget his ex. The purpose of the payments is very touching: “for good deeds”, “shoes for the second pair of feet”. Payment of a loan for a dear wife, payment of housing and communal services in the “Count Orlov” complex. And so on. And all this happened from a donation account, and with the knowledge of Alexei Navalny, gentlemen of the jury. Alas, my client is sinful and deceitful,” writes Remeslo.
Political scientist Sergei Karnaukhov believes that it is necessary to investigate not only the spending of fraudsters, but also the identities of the “donors.” He believes that Navalny’s “investigations” were ordered by high-ranking officials, “ordering” their competitors.
“Another thing is interesting. Navalny has been in IK-2 for a long time. But not a single investigative film has ever appeared about its curators, who was the roof, who paid for the attacks on politicians, who provided cover and gave instructions, and provided communication with Western intelligence services.
Is someone very scared?” Karnaukhov wrote.
Navalny's trial will continue next week.
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