Lawyers ask to acquit Navalny
KIROV. July 5 (Interfax) - The defense of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny is asking the Kirov Leninsky District Court to acquit him on the case on embezzlement from Kirovles.
According to the Interfax correspondent, Navalny's lawyers explained their stance during arguments in court on Friday.
The trial on the case regarding Navalny is illegal, Navalny's lawyer Olga Mikhailova said.
"Hearing of the criminal case in the Leninsky Court of the city of Kirov has shown that the charge brought against Navalny is completely contradicting existing statutory regulations," Mikhailova said.
According to Mikhailova, the prosecution does not have proof of her client's guilt.
"The fact that court dismissed all requests filed by the defense shows that this trial does not meet the purpose of justice and is pursuing just one goal - following political motives, to publicly discredit and to hold criminally liable a famous political activist. No certain proof, how Navalny conspired criminally with Vyacheslav Opalev and Pyotr Ofitserov, has been presented," Mikhailova said.
The prosecution has not presented any certain proof of where, when, to whom and in what circumstances Navalny had given directions to commit criminal acts and what his role as the crime organizer actually was, Mikhailova said.
The proof scrutinized during the trial confirms that the crime has not happened, Mikhailova said.
"So, no a single piece of evidence, corroborating the stance of the prosecution that Navalny organized the embezzlement, has been provided during the trial," Mikhailova said.