Navalny's trial. Day eleven

Hearings on the Kirovles case continue in the Leninsky Court of Kirov. The day before, the court read out the wiretapped conversations between Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov, which contained many obscene words, and rejected the complaint about searches at Navalny’s headquarters. Today the court is hearing obscene wiretaps in the original.

Broadcast by PublicPost.

17:57 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Judge Blinov announces the dates: June 6, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24 and 25. The defense asks not to partake, as it is expensive, everyone lives in Moscow, and everyone has families.

Prosecutors say that the fact that the accused live in Moscow is not a reason to postpone the hearings, but they themselves do not want to work on their days off: “We also have a personal life.”

The defense asks to remove June 6 and 11, since Davydova cannot do it on June 6. They are bargaining about the 11th like “in kindergarten,” says the judge.

After a long period of trading, Blinov announces a break until 9 a.m. on June 10. The meetings will be held on June 10 and 11, the remaining dates will be determined later - June 11.

Photo: Maria Eismont

17:45 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Everyone named the days they were busy. The judge announced a break for 5 minutes and left to check his schedule.

Photo: Maria Eismont

17:39 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

We are moving on to determining the order of meetings for June.

17:35 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Letters from Ofitserov to Navalny - again discussing supply volumes and monetary issues.

17:31 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

The prosecutors have changed - now someone else is reading the case quickly. They read Nikita Belykh’s letter with passes. Davydova asks to read it in full. The judge supports Davydova.

Navalny’s letters to Ofitserov are read out with the words “obscene.”

Among the letters is a discussion of affairs with Solikamskbumprom.

Photo: Maria Eismont

17:10 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Prosecutors are reading the correspondence between Navalny and Ofitserov - so far it is only about an agreement to meet.

In one of the letters, Navalny asks Ofitserov to buy a Nokia phone with a SIM card from any operator, put money on it and give it to him. In addition, Navalny recommends that Ofitserov set up an email account on gmail, otherwise there is “no secrecy.”

Other letters already discuss the affairs of Kirovles.

17:04 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Price tables and other documents were found on Samsung. Volume fourteen is finished. They move on to the sixteenth volume, but before that they will read out the protocol from the fifteenth volume.

Judge Blinov decided to work until six in the evening. Davydova and Navalny hint that the working day is over, that the court secretary is tired.

Photo: Maria Eismont

Judge Blinov says that the court secretary can file a complaint and asks what time Navalny’s train is. “We still have business in Kirov,” says Davydova, “related to the protection of the interests of the accused Ofitserov.” Still another hour. The schedule for June will be agreed upon at the end.

Photo: Maria Eismont

16:59 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

When examining the system unit, they found Navalny’s email correspondence, which was interesting for the investigation.

16:56 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

The prosecutor reads out the results of the examination of physical evidence - there was nothing on one of the iPhones. On another they found an SMS correspondence with a subscriber who “writes a note” and asks for comment.

There was nothing else on the phone that was interesting for the investigation.

16:54 Anna Veduta, press secretary of Alexei Navalny

They describe the seizures during the search of Navalny. I still remember this hell on June 11, 2012. From 8 am to 8 or even 9 pm - their apartment is like after a bomb.

16:50 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

The prosecutor stumbled over the list of seized evidence - he reads with long pauses the lists of seized office equipment, turning over the pages of the case.

16:47 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

They read the results of the search at Navalny's: two seized iPhones, two MacBooks, three iPads, a Samsung laptop, a computer system unit. The investigator has the equipment.

16:34 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Prosecutors continue to present evidence and read out the 14th volume of the case. They present the results of a search of Pyotr Ofitserov - his savings book, the laptops of his wife and son were confiscated.

Photo: Maria Eismont

16:33 Alexey Navalny

The FSB reports where they took my voice for examination.

16:22 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Navalny to Judge Blinov: “I looked at your sad face when this psychological and linguistic examination was read out, and I realized that I shared your thoughts.”

The examination, the accused says, was ordered by an investigator who was sent from Volgograd (where he was deputy head of the investigation department) to falsify the case.

“What are these conclusions of experts who, based on the words of Ofitserov, who calls me the “chief of NAMA”, obviously parodying the popular program “Our Russia”, draw such conclusions. All this is necessary, says Navalny, for Channel One to show on air that the examination has already proven the guilt of the accused.

Photo: Maria Eismont

Navalny also asked Blinov to make a personal determination regarding “the outrages that Channel One journalists are doing by broadcasting false materials.”

Blinov said that he had not seen the message from Channel One, so he could not bear anything out.

16:19 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Davydova says that the experts, along with a disk with recordings of telephone conversations, were given documents from the criminal case materials: a copy of a letter from the government of the Kirov region to Solikamskbumprom, a copy of the protocol on bringing Opalev as an accused, a copy of Opalev’s interrogation, a copy of Arzamastsev’s interrogation, copies of interrogations witnesses Shcherchkova, Bastrygina, copies of the interrogation of the accused.

The examination was appointed to examine audio recordings, says Davydova, and the provision of materials from a criminal case that are not related to the subject of research is illegal (Clause 1, Part 3, Article 51 of the Code of Criminal Procedure - an expert can only review materials related to the subject of research). This violation, the lawyer believes, could affect the objectivity of the examination’s conclusions. In general, the conclusions of the examination represent “a rewriting of the investigators’ question in an affirmative form.”

16:17 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Lawyer Svetlana Davydova is filing a petition to recognize as unacceptable the psychological and linguistic examination of wiretaps, the conclusions of which about the relationships and intentions of the accused were read out in court. This is the same examination that, based on the comic “Hello, chief of NAMA,” concluded that Ofitserov considers Navalny to be the boss.

Davydova says that a comprehensive examination involves the conclusions of experts of different specialties, and it is necessary that each expert be responsible for his part of the research and sign separately his part of the examination, while in the contested examination it is unclear what kind of research was carried out by each of the two authors of the examination - psychologist and linguist.

16:01 Maria Eismont, Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Judge Blinov asks the prosecutor's office's opinion on the defense's request to declare the wiretapping as improper evidence. Prosecutors do not see any procedural violations, they ask the FSB not to request anything (on what basis did they wiretap Navalny). The prosecutor's office asks for time until the end of the study of all written evidence in order to refute the defense's arguments (the defense attached the addresses of witnesses - they, in its opinion, are fictitious).

The judge rejects the defense's request and will satisfy the prosecutor's request to give the prosecution the opportunity to prove the authenticity of the witnesses until the examination of all written evidence is completed.

15:59 Alisa Ivanitskaya/PublicPost

We return to the Leninsky District Court. Judge Blinov resumed the trial.

15:58 Alexey Navalny

At our “Putin-thief” picket, people are having a very pleasant time.

15:23 Alisa Ivanitskaya/PublicPost

Navalny's request to move the trial to Moscow was rejected.

12:43 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

The Regional Court will consider the petition of Navalny’s defenders to transfer the hearings in the Kirovles case to Moscow.

12:38 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Alexei Navalny gives an interview outside the courthouse.

Photo: Maria Eismont

12:35 Alexey Navalny

The court hearing will still continue today at 16:00. After the trial in the regional court, which begins now, is over. Blinov scheduled it for 16:00 and said that he would alert the prosecutor’s office. Appointed after we clarified the schedule with the regional one.

12:09 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Everyone is a little shocked by the judge's decision. Officers, for example, planned a seminar for tomorrow. It is difficult to buy tickets from Kirov for Friday evening.

In court they are discussing what Blinov could have been offended by: “Either yesterday’s public reference to Article 121 of the Code of Criminal Procedure from lawyer Davydova, or her phrase “no one has the gift of foresight” in response to the judge’s question about when the hearing in the regional court will end .

11:57 Alisa Ivanitskaya/PublicPost

From the examination it follows that Ofitserov and Navalny acted together.

The conclusion has come to an end. The prosecutor finished.

Judge Blinov said that Navalny was considering a certain complaint today in the Regional Court, and announced a break until tomorrow at one o'clock in the afternoon.

“We agreed on a schedule for May, and the 31st was not there. Please do not schedule meetings arbitrarily. We have tickets, a hotel. We are in another city,” says Navalny. “Despite the trial, I am still a lawyer. I have employment, clients." Despite the objections of Navalny's lawyers and Navalny himself, Judge Blinov schedules a hearing for the 31st.

11:56 Petr Ofitserov

From the text of the examination: “...The officers called Navalny the chief...” There was the following text: “Hello, chief of NAMA.” For me, this, of course, was a joke, but it’s clear that THOSE EXPERTS who did this examination actually call their bosses “bosses.” And here, instead of specialists, migrant workers were brought in. Ay-ay-ay!"

11:55 Oleg Pshenichny

“Officers and Navalny, calling each other, show high communicative activity.”

11:52 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Experts described the relationship between Navalny and Ofitserov as friendly and close. Also in the entries are “modalities of doubt”, as well as “encourages each other” and “advice”. The word "speculation" is used.

11:42 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Navalny's speech after dubbing the wiretap. Video.

11:38

The prosecutor is still reading out the examination. Now in the part that concerns the topic of conversations between Navalny and Ofitserov, but in essence - a retelling of their negotiations. For the third time, the court hears what the accused talked about.

11:11 Alisa Ivanitskaya/PublicPost

Experts note in some recordings that the voice designated as “M” belongs to Navalny, in other recordings it “presumably belongs to Navalny,” and in others it is impossible to identify.

Prosecutors continue to read the examination.

For convenience, subscribers were designated “M1”, “M2” and “F”.

Photo: Maria Eismont

11:02 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Some of the recordings are “unsuitable for voice and speech research due to insufficient length and lexical representativeness,” others are of limited use, and others are not.

10:50 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

We return to the courtroom. The prosecution continues to present its evidence.

The audio recordings were examined for several months. The prosecutor hastily reads out the names of the experts.

Navalny and his defenders are immersed in mobile phones and computers.

10:35 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

There is a break in the meeting for 10 minutes.

10:34 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

In response to Navalny's remark that the recordings were cut up, the prosecutor says that investigators ordered a phonoscopic examination.

10:31 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Navalny stood up with a comment on the audio recordings “obtained illegally”: these recordings contradict the essence of the accusation: “I can assume that they cut something from the conversations of people that seemed criminal to them, but these negotiations completely destroy the plot of the accusation.”

10:26 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

The wiretaps are over. Navalny draws the court's attention to the fact that the wiretaps speak of the deplorable situation in Kirovles, the desire to conduct an audit and the reluctance to cheat with the competition.

“You can hear how furiously Ofitserov bargains for VAT posts,” Navalny says the recordings prove his and Ofitserov’s innocence.

10:22 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

This conversation takes place between the defendants after the suspension (as it later turned out, temporary) of Opalev in the fall of 2009. Navalny describes the situation at the enterprise as “a real complete collapse: no one controls anything, the forestry enterprises are not subordinate, complete <obscene>. They say: “Let’s bring Opalev back - he knows something.” I say that Opalev cannot be returned.” Navalny offers Ofitserov to actually head Kirovles. He is not ready for a full-time job without a free schedule. Well, both agree that in this situation the foresters will start a war with Ofitserov “and all the Vyatka problems will be blamed on him.”

After a pause, he offers the officers to “come in for three months and have a look,” and “if there are huge problems, then refuse.” As an option, Navalny suggests returning Opalev (“he still has influence”), but with Officers in command.

Opalev was eventually returned - precisely because the regional leadership was convinced that only he could control the forestry enterprises, and Belykh, testifying in court, called this return a mistake.

10:17 Anna Veduta, press secretary of Alexei Navalny

“It would be strange to conduct an audit and cheat something with the competition,” says the main “forest plunderer.” All criminals think the same way.

10:14 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Navalny says that Kirovles is “full of <obscene>”, and no one understands anything.

10:11 Evgeniy Feldman

The criminal always returns with an auditor to the crime scene.

10:10 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

The interlocutor has “such a complicated surname,” so Navalny dictates his email to her.

10:03 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

They listen to a conversation between Sabina from Deloitte and Navalny. “There is one stupid enterprise in the Kirov region,” says Navalny. “And no one understands what is happening there.” Navalny clarifies that the enterprise is state-owned and therefore they must announce a competition for a comprehensive audit. “We can write in the requirements that we need an auditor from the top three,” says Navalny.

He clarifies the pricing with Sabina in order to understand how much an audit might cost. Sabina says that the audit costs $20,000, “if everything is simple.” “We can handle a million or one and a half rubles, but not five. The Kirov region is poor, if we pay someone five million for an audit, no one will understand,” says Navalny.

09:52 Anna Veduta, press secretary of Alexei Navalny

“Now I’ll go and record him,” Navalny complains in the wiretap. At the same moment they record him.

09:42 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Officers says that he received a call from Vyatka-Akademaudit: “They asked me to provide data and invoices for my clients.” Navalny offers to send them <obscene>. “That’s how I sent them – on an erotic journey on foot,” responds Ofitserov. We are talking about an audit company that Navalny’s opponents in the Belykh government ordered an audit of Kirovles. The conclusion of the auditors, who carried out an examination in just a few days, states that all the problems of Kirovles are in the VLK. Navalny and Ofitserov consider the results of such an audit to be ordered and challenged them in court; both Deputy Governor Shcherchkov and Belykh himself had a low opinion of the audit results in court.

Photo: Maria Eismont

In the audio recording, Navalny clearly tells Ofitserov that he wants to propose at the meeting to order an audit of Kirovles from some company like Deloitte & Touche. A strange idea for someone who is going to steal 16 million from Kirovles.

09:33 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

The officers ask Navalny if he will be able to “talk about what we talked about this morning.” Navalny responds to the recordings that he hopes it will succeed at the shooting.

09:32 Alexey Navalny

It’s a nightmare how often I use “there” and “type” in spoken language.

09:30 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

There is a traditional picket near the courthouse - several people wearing “Putin is a thief” T-shirts are holding a banner with the same slogan.

Photo: Maria Eismont

09:28 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Most of the activists of Sitting Rus', who came to the trial, left yesterday. There are many empty seats in the hall.

09:26 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Navalny asks Ofitserov about Opalev’s daughter, who officially works at VLK. He confirms that it was processed through the HR department.

Now the conversation turns to the situation with the forest in the Kaluga region, which Officers cites as an example. “There was the same thing - a new governor came, they dispersed the whole <obscene> completely.” Now one organization there is engaged in forestry work and is financed from the budget, the other is engaged in “speculation.” “Sale,” Navalny translates. Actually, this is what Officers means. The investigation paid special attention to the word “speculation,” although the conversation was about the possibility of studying the experience of another region.

09:24 Anna Veduta, press secretary of Alexei Navalny

In the audio, Ofitserov tells Navalny about the experience of the Kaluga region. How did they “disperse all this <obscene>” and reorganize the process. Ofitserov tells Navalny that KOGUP does not earn anything, it only burns money.

09:23 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

In another conversation, Ofitserov asks Navalny how auditors know about Navalny’s contractors.

09:20 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

In the next conversation, Navalny asks Ofitserov not to give in to provocations:

“They are provoking you to do some kind of <obscene>. Forget about them <obscene>,” we hear Navalny’s voice. People in the hall are smiling.

09:10 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

We listened to a very short conversation. It's not very clear why. There is not a word about “Kirovles” (by the way, there is no obscenity either).

09:07 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

The hearing began from the end.

We decided to change the order.

We are talking about the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who came to Navalny, and about the inspection launched into Kirovles.

Suddenly, during the conversation, Officers reminds Navalny that he needs to get vaccinated at the medical office.

09:03 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ PublicPost

Judge Blinov carefully cuts envelopes with material evidence: "Another envelope is extracted from this envelope." In the envelopes of CDs with records of negotiations of officer and Navalny. Reads serial numbers of material evidence.

Alexei Navalny specified whether the court will listen to those notes whose text decodings were read the day before. Judge Blinov confirms. "I want to explain that there is a discussion of a fabricated audit report," says Navalny.

Listen to records.

09:00 Alice Ivanitskaya/ Publicpost

Judge Blinov announces the meeting open.

Now they will listen to audio recordings. None of the parties objects.

08:58 Alice Ivanitskaya/ Publicpost

Alexey Navalny together with his wife is already in court.

In the meeting room, so far 10-15 people, despite the fact that the hearings should resume in a few minutes.

08:50 Alisa Ivanitskaya/ Publicpost

Yesterday's meeting, at which the obscene negotiations of Officer and Navalny was read, had to be interrupted even before dinner, since Navalny had another court. Initially, it was planned to hear an audio recording with fabulous dialogs. According to Publicpost correspondent, Maria Aismont, perhaps audio recordings will be listened today, although it is possible that the court will proceed to the study of other evidence.

According to investigators, Alexey Navalny, a member of the opposition Coordination Council, blogger, creator of the RosPil and RosZhKH projects, organized the theft of timber in 2009, when he was an adviser to the governor of the Kirov region. Together with the director of Vyatka Forestry Company LLC, Pyotr Ofitserov , and the general director of KOGUP Kirovles, Vyacheslav Opalev, he stole 10 thousand cubic meters of forest products from May to September 2009, the Investigative Committee says. As a result, the Kirov region missed more than 16 million rubles from the budget.

Navalny was accused of organizing a large embezzlement of someone else's property (Article 33, Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), Ofitserov - of complicity (Article 33, Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Vyacheslav Opalev admitted guilt and decided to make a deal with the investigation, so his criminal case was investigated separately. As a result, the court found the general director of Kirovles guilty, and the whole process is based on his confession.