Navalny's trial. Day twelve

In Kirov, after a break, hearings on the Kirovles case resumed. At the very beginning of the process, it became clear that the witnesses indicated by the investigators in the protocol for examining the discs with wiretapping of conversations between Navalny and Ofitserov were most likely fake. At least, the addresses they indicated in the protocol do not exist in Moscow. In response to requests from lawyers, Moskgorspravka and MosgorBTI reported that, as of May 2013, there are no such addresses in Moscow. PublicPost broadcast the twelfth day of the trial.

16:24 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

The decision will be announced tomorrow. The hearing was adjourned until 9 a.m. Tuesday.

16:20 Anna Veduta, press secretary of Alexei Navalny

A petition to exclude Opalev’s sentence from the case file , just announced by Mikhailova’s lawyer.

16:18 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Mikhailov's lawyer reads the petition before the prosecution announces Opalev's sentence. The former director of Kirovles, the main witness for the prosecution, admitted to the theft, made a deal with the investigation and was given a special sentence of 4 years probation.

This is the verdict that prosecutors were going to announce, but lawyers are protesting. “The verdict cannot have legal significance in the criminal case against Navalny and Ofitserov, since it was passed without the participation of Navalny and Ofitserov, in violation of the principles of the presumption of innocence,” says Mikhailova and recalls that all of Navalny’s requests to consider the case against all three defendants together were not satisfied .

However, in rejecting Navalny, the regional court, Mikhailova says, ruled that Opalev’s sentence “cannot have prejudicial significance” in Navalny’s case.

Prejudice means the obligation for all courts considering a case, as well as for prosecutors, investigators, investigators in charge of a criminal case, to accept, without checking and evaluating evidence, circumstances previously established by a court verdict that has entered into legal force in some other case. On the other hand, such a sentence cannot prejudge the guilt of persons who have not previously participated in the criminal case under consideration.

The judge retired to rule on the motion.

16:05 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

The defendants' lawyers suggested that Judge Blinov finish for today so that they could prepare for tomorrow and make copies of volumes 27 and 28 (there are 30 volumes in total in the case). “Otherwise the office will close.” Blinov promised that the office would not close and they would be able to film everything. This whole dialogue brought an infrequent smile from the judge.

15:50 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

While prosecutors were reading out materials from volumes 17-23 of the criminal case in the courtroom, on the street near the court activists launched a banner into the sky - an appeal to Judge Blinov.

Photo: Maria Eismont

However, before the poster “Judge Blinov, don’t disgrace yourself! Fear God’s judgment! Freedom for Alexei Navalny” flew into the sky and disappeared behind the houses, the activists had to explain to the police that they were not holding an unauthorized march, but were simply helping a person “with a single picket” drag the props to the place."

Photo: Maria Eismont

Some of the police simply looked at what was happening, some asked individual picketers to go to the station, but in the end, two people were detained.

Photo: Maria Eismont

As their comrades assumed, most likely not for long.

15:35 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

Break - 10 minutes. After it, materials from volume 24 will be read.

15:24 Alexey Navalny

Yes, those who came to the courtroom today are a bit bored, of course. It's such a bore that it's hard not to fall asleep.

15:03 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

Prosecutors reached volume 21. Annexes to contracts, prices for supplies, names of shippers are read out. The information is purely technical and is practically not perceived by ear.

14:43 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

The reading of documents regulating the activities of Kirovles continues. The charter of the enterprise, Opalev’s employment contract, and the obligations of suppliers are read out.

14:25 Nikolay Lyaskin, head of the Moscow branch of the People's Alliance party

This is such fun in Kirov.

14:10 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

After the break, the number of people in the hall noticeably decreased. Prosecutors continue to read out materials from the 17th volume of the case.

13:58 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Nina Dmitrievna, retired history teacher, local historian. Supports Navalny. She says that a man from A Just Russia made a well for her in the garden, and he told her about Navalny’s trial and that they could give her a sentence.

“Well, that means he’ll sit in prison, come out and become president,” thinks Nina Dmitrievna.

Photo: Maria Eismont

13:09 Alexey Navalny

Here is the text of the petition to disqualify the judge , which we filed today.

13:07 PublicPost

Prosecutors were about to read further, but the judge announced a lunch break until 14:00.

12:58 PublicPost

According to the analysis, VLK shipped goods to contractors for 16.165 million rubles, purchased from Kirovles before - for more than 14 million, and the difference was 1.2 million rubles.

12:54 PublicPost

Prosecutors reached a resolution ordering an accounting forensic examination, which was prepared by experts from the ECC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Kirov Region.

12:49 PublicPost

The prosecutor began to read out the seventeenth volume.

12:20 PublicPost

The prosecutor continues to read out the correspondence. One of the excerpts: “I wrote letters demanding a fine for Kirovles for 100 thousand. Of course, he won’t give up everything, but I will scare you to the last.” According to the defenders, the 167th page of the 16th volume is already in progress.

12:04 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Prosecutors read out the correspondence between Navalny and Ofitserov.

“Hey, enclosed is a draft letter... Take a look.”

“Everything is fine, only the word “chaotic” appears twice.”

It is curious that the prosecutor also read this phrase twice.

11:55 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Pavel came to support Navalny from Perm on a bicycle. According to him, he traveled 500 kilometers in more than two days. He says that he came to a trial that “should not have happened.”

Photo: Maria Eismont

11:36 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

Judge Blinov refused to recuse himself.

Photo: RAPSI

11:28 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

The break is over, but Blinov is not there yet. The wait drags on, journalists chatter quietly in the hall.

10:48 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

During the break, Navalny went to the place of the traditional picket of his supporters to talk with the support group. This time, posters with local themes appeared at the picket.

Photo: Maria Eismont

09:44 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Davydova: “The judge is not free from outside influence, is not independent and impartial.” Blinov listened to the demand for his recusal and left to decide whether to recusal himself or not. Break until 11:15.

Photo: Maria Eismont

09:40 Anna Veduta, press secretary of Alexei Navalny

The court deliberately and in violation of the rights of the defense allowed evidence disputed by the defense to be considered, ignoring the defense's request.

(I remind you: first the petition to declare the evidence inadmissible was POSTPONED (!), the evidence was heard, then the petition was denied.)

09:30 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Davydova: Judge Blinov committed a deliberate and conscious violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure: he lost his objectivity and impartiality.

Photo: Maria Eismont

09:28 Anna Veduta, press secretary of Alexei Navalny

Defense: it is impossible and illegal to eliminate contradictions between the testimony given as a witness and during the pre-investigation check.

09:20 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Davydova reads out the demand for the recusal of Judge Blinov, accusing him of “direct interest in the outcome of the trial and the verdict of guilty.”

Davydova points out, in particular, violations during the interrogation of witnesses. Thus, Opalev (the key prosecution witness, former director of Kirovles Vyacheslav Opalev, who admitted his guilt in a special manner - editor's note) was not warned about liability for giving false testimony, which he took advantage of by refusing to answer defendant Navalny's questions that were important for the defense.

Photo: Maria Eismont

Davydova gives specific examples in which Judge Blinov repeatedly allows a witness not to answer questions from the defense.

09:12 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

Mikhailova’s lawyer presented to the court copies of responses to lawyers’ requests to the BTI and Mosgorspravka, according to which the addresses of the witnesses indicated in the investigation documents turned out to be non-existent.

Photo: Maria Eismont

"The Northern BTI reviewed the request and indicated that the address of Yunnatov, house 22 was not taken into account in the housing stock database. The response from the Eastern BTI was that Volochaevskaya St., building 4/3 was not taken into account in the BTI archive. From Mosgorspravka: as of May 2013, the addresses of the street Volochaevskaya and Yunnatov do not exist in the city of Moscow. The judge attached the documents to the case.

Photo: Maria Eismont

Read more about false witnesses in Maria Eismont's blog .

09:11 Alexey Navalny

We request the inclusion of certificates from the BTI and Mosgorspravka, stating that the addresses where the IC “witnesses” are registered do not exist.

Photo: RAPSI

09:08 Daniil Kolomiychuk/PublicPost

The start of the meeting was delayed by five minutes - they were waiting for the defense. Everyone arrived, the hearings began.

09:06 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

“Tell me, is Navalny’s trial going on again today?” - the woman asks, walking past the courthouse on Spasskaya, 20. Having received an affirmative answer, she continues: “They were right.” Pause. "About Lyudmila Putin. The guys (agitators - editor's note) told me that Putin has not lived with her for a long time, and now everything has been confirmed. Divorce. They were right." Pause. "We need to remove him. Leave his wife at that age!!! My husband and I have been quarreling for three days. He says, after all, the government, how to remove it? But I think that just because of the way he abandoned her, it is necessary to remove him. So that these guys were telling the truth."

Photo: Maria Eismont

08:58 Maria Eismont/PublicPost

The traditional picket of Navalny’s supporters at the puppet theater began at 8 am. On the propaganda cube there are already well-known materials about theft at the Olympics in Sochi, nearby activists hold banners saying “Putin is a thief”, but there is also a new stand - Kirovsky, telling about who is responsible for the poor quality of roads in the region. The amount for road maintenance is growing, the poster says, but the result is no roads.

Photo: Maria Eismont

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.