Russian authorities threaten Navalny with prison time unless he appears for parole hearing in Moscow tomorrow

The Moscow branch of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) has threatened to go to court with a request to overturn Alexey Navalny’s suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case unless he appears for a parole hearing in Moscow tomorrow. This was reported by Navalny’s lawyer Vadim Kobzev on Twitter.

In a statement, the FSIN said that Navalny hasn’t fulfilled the duties assigned to him by the court and has evaded the prison inspectorate’s attempts to monitor his probation.

On December 22, 2020, the journal The Lancet published an article based on materials from the German Charité Clinic, collected according to the results of the treatment of Russian citizen A.A. Navalny. Based on the publication, A.A. Navalny was discharged from the Charité Clinic on September 20, 2020, and by October 12 all consequences of his illness had passed. As such, the conditionally sentenced person isn’t fulfilling the duties assigned to him by the court and is evading the monitoring of the prison inspectorate.

The FSIN noted that if Navalny’s attempts to evade monitoring are confirmed, he will be held liable under article 190, part 4 of the Russian Penal Code. According to the article in question, if a convicted person fails to fulfill the terms of their probation or evades monitoring, the FSIN can file a petition with the court to overturn their suspended sentence and replace it with a real prison term.

• On December 30, 2014, Alexey Navalny received a 3.5-year suspended sentence with 5 years probation in connection with Yves Rocher case. The period of his probation is still ongoing because it was later extended by a year — thus, it’s set to end on December 30, 2020. If the courts were to side with the FSIN and overturn Navalny’s sentence, he could receive 3.5 years in prison.
• Navalny has been in Germany since August, when he was evacuated to Berlin for treatment after he was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that he personally helped ensure Navalny’s release for treatment abroad, noting that he faced travel restrictions. Navalny maintained that this is a lie and that he had the right to travel freely.