Moscow, Russia:
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is on a national wanted list for allegedly violating the terms of a suspended prison sentence and dangers becoming jailed for 3 and a half years when he returns to Russia this weekend, a single of his lawyers mentioned on Thursday.
Navalny announced on Wednesday that he plans to fly back to Russia on Sunday for the initial time considering the fact that he was poisoned in August with a Novichok nerve agent, in spite of the threat of becoming jailed on his return from Germany.
The Kremlin denies involvement in his poisoning, mentioned it has observed no proof that he was poisoned, and has mentioned he is no cost to return to Russia at any time.
Navalny on Wednesday shrugged off the expanding list of legal threats, calling criminal instances against him — of which there are at least two pending — fabricated to thwart his political ambitions.
Vadim Kobzev, a single of Navalny’s lawyers, told Reuters on Thursday that Navalny had now been place on a national wanted list for the reason that Russia’s prison service accuses him of not reporting to them at the finish of final year in connection with a suspended sentence for embezzlement which he was serving out.
Navalny mentioned the original case against him was trumped up and that he was in Germany at the time becoming treated as an outpatient for his poisoning so could not report in. The prison service says he was discharged from a Berlin hospital in September and for that reason must have returned to Moscow and reported to them.
“In theory they can detain him as soon as he arrives (in Russia) but initially only for 48 hours,” mentioned Kobzev, who mentioned he anticipated a court to hear particulars of the case on Jan. 29 at which point it could order his suspended sentence to be converted into genuine jail time.
“The court can change his whole suspended sentence into a real one and give him three and a half years in jail,” mentioned Kobzev.
Leonid Volkov, an ally of Navalny, has mentioned that Navalny will turn into the world’s most higher profile political prisoner if he is jailed, likening him to Nelson Mandela, and has mentioned he would turn into a symbol of resistance to the Kremlin.
The Kremlin, which refers to Navalny only as “the Berlin patient,” says it is up to the relevant law enforcement agencies to make a decision how he is treated.
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