Moscow Helsinki Group head thinks Navalny will not be acquitted
MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) - Russia's oldest human rights activist and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva said she did not believe in the charges brought against opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who is on trial regarding embezzlement at the Kirovles company.
"This trial is political. If we had a law-based state, then this trial would not take place at all," Alexeyeva told Interfax on Friday.
"I have no doubt: if the trial begins, then in our circumstances, with our courts, Navalny will not be acquitted. A guilty sentence has been prepared for him. I will hope that the sentence will be suspended and short," Alexeyeva said.
The prosecutor's office asked the Kirov Leninsky District Court to find Navalny guilty of organizing embezzlement from Kirovles and to sentence him to six years. The prosecutor said during arguments that the defendant's guilt had been proven by materials and witnesses' testimony scrutinized during the trial.
