Navalny pleads not guilty in Kirovles fraud case
KIROV. July 5 (Interfax) - Opposition activist Alexei Navalny asked the court during Friday's hearings of the Kirovles fraud case to declare him not guilty.
"I would ask the court to unconditionally acquit me and Pyotr Ofitserov, [the second defendant and the head of the Vyatka Timber Company]," he said.
"No evidence is available whatsoever to rumors and claims that I had criminal motives," Navalny said.
Navalny described as perjury the evidence provided by witness for prosecution, head of the Kirovles timber company Vyacheslav Opalev.
He also said that he had not received any reward from Ofitserov and pleaded not guilty.
"Ofitserov is an accidental person. Dozens of people like him could be brought here. During my tenure as the Kirov Region government's advisor I dealt with many businessmen," he said.
The first hearing of the Kirovles fraud case started on April 17.
Investigators claimed that during his tenure as the Kirov Region governor's advisor, Navalny colluded with the Vyatka Timber Company's director Ofitserov and Kirovles General Director Opalev.
They also claimed that more than 10,000 cubic meters of timber owned by Kirovles were misappropriated between May and September 2009, and that the regional budget lost over 16 million rubles.