The ally of Navalny was sentenced to public work in the case of the theft of the picture

The judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Vladimir Yuri Yevtukhov sentenced to 240 hours of public works an employee of the “Foundation for Combating Corruption” by Georgy Alburov in the case of the theft of the painting “Bad Good Man”, the press secretary of the politician Alexei Navalny Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter.

According to the decision of Yevtukhov, Alburov caused Sotov to damage 5 thousand rubles, and the accused did not have enough reason to consider the drawing to be ownerless. “The court notes that Alburov does not deny his involvement,” the yoke led from the sentence. Oppositionist Leonid Volkov also quoted the judge: "Alburov’s testimony is devoid of logic."

The court found him guilty under paragraph “A” 2 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (theft committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy). According to investigators, Alburov and another ally of Navalny - on the federal wanted list, Nikita Kulachenkov - last summer they stole a picture from the fence on the station descent of Vladimir to give it to Navalny for a birthday.

Alburova’s lawyer Anna Polozova in court demanded to justify her client and indicated that the author of the picture Sergei Sotov made the offense, who had no right to hang his work on the fence. She also indicated that initially the picture was estimated by the artist at 100 rubles, then, the first examination - at 2.5 thousand rubles, and the second - 5 thousand rubles.

The artist’s interview was also mentioned to the journalist Ilya Shepelin, where he admitted that he had signed a statement to the police, which was given to him by people who were submitted to the employees of the city administration. Judge Yevtukhov in the verdict explained that Sotov’s statement to the police does not matter, since criminal cases of theft can be initiated according to the reports of law enforcement officials. In addition, the lawyer recalled that the Prosecutor General’s Office refused to transfer the case to court and offered to close it for the lack of corpus delicti, but investigator Alexei Alekseev appealed to the city prosecutor’s office, where, according to the lawyer, they did not dare to argue with the Investigative Committee.

The prosecutor Stepan Volodin justified the significance of the damage that the artist suffered, the cost of the picture based on the second examination, Sotov’s pension of 11 thousand rubles and his wiper salary of 4.8 thousand rubles. Requesting three years conditionally, he argued that “in the visual arts there is a direction incomprehensible to an ordinary person - abstractionism”, and “honeycombs are an unusual person, fewer and less” and explained the value of the painting by the author of the author. The judge excluded a clause on significant damage from the sentence.

The criminal case was opened after the picture was discovered in the apartment of Alexei Navalny. According to Alburov, six investigators in particularly important matters were engaged in the case.