Fresh charges against Navalny a start of reprisals against opposition - Alexeyeva
MOSCOW. July 31 (Interfax) - Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the chief of Russia's veteran rights organization, the Moscow Helsinki Group, said the fresh charges brought against blogger and author of the Rospil anti-corruption project Alexei Navalny, are an attack on the opposition.
"This marks the beginning of a campaign of reprisals against the opposition," Alexeyeva told Interfax on Tuesday.
"What wrong has Navalny done? Attended authorized rallies and openly exposed corruption on the Internet? I fear travel restrictions will be imposed on me, soon, since I am dealing with the Magnitsky case," the 85 year-old rights campaigner said.
"It looks like they have put their hands on him in earnest," she said in remarks about the prosecution of Navalny.
The consequences of this criminal case will be scandalous for the authorities, she said.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Tuesday that Navalny had been charged with organizing large-scale misappropriation of assets at the Kirovles state-run timber company.