Bulk: want to plant? Then I will go to the presidency!
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was recently brought by the Federal Bailiffs Service to the Leninsky Court of Kirov, where the trial of the Kirovles case was taking place.
This story It starts in 2009 year, when Nikita Belykh became the governor of the Kirov region, who, by the way, was detained in June 2016 red-handed while receiving a large sum of money. White gathered around himself friends and comrades, appointing them as his advisers on a voluntary basis. Naturally altruistic, such highly qualified personnel were not and most likely received the full will of action in Vyatka in order to enrich themselves and their leader.
During the leadership of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh more than once became a participant in scandals related to the extortion of money by his advisors. Alexey Navalny was a similar consultant, who immediately set about fulfilling his “duties” by connecting his friend Peter Ofitserov.
The latter registered Vyatka Forest Company LLC (VLK) in March 2009 of the year, literally 2 months after the election of a new governor. From April to August of the same year, KOGUP “Kirovles” sells timber products to VLK LLC at reduced prices, and the state-owned enterprise suffers losses.
An audit at the enterprise revealed a number of violations, law enforcement agencies in August 2009 began to check the possible circumstances of the theft. As a result, in December 2012, the Leninsky Court of the city of Kirov recognized the fact of misappropriation and guilt of the director of Kirovles, Vyacheslav Opolev.
Naturally, the former head of the Kirov state-owned enterprise did not want to sit, and he made a deal with the investigation. After his amazing stories, it turned out that Navalny had advised him to sign an agreement with VLK LLC, “motivating” him with possible sanctions by an adviser to the governor with extended powers.
The case started in a new way, the investigation insisted that Navalny was the organizer of the crime, and the Officers were an accomplice. The oppositionist denied his guilt and claimed that the case was fabricated. Later, audio recordings appeared proving the involvement of new defendants in the case against the charges, which, by the way, the defense regularly tried to exclude from the case, saying “illegally obtained.”
An interesting picture emerges: the main fighter against corruption justifies itself by the “illegality of the evidence obtained” in the case of financial fraud. But now is not about that.
As a result, in July 2013, the court found Navalny and Ofitserov guilty and sentenced them to 5 and 4 years conditionally, respectively. It should be added that this happened at that time when Alexey Anatolyevich was a candidate for mayor of Moscow, which allowed him to call the decision of the judicial body politicized, and not to recognize the results of the lost elections.
Later, the oppositionist filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, which Strasbourg granted. Thus, in November 2016, the Presidium of the Supreme Court quashed the conviction, and the case was sent for review. Literally a week after the announcement of the first hearing on the revision of the Kirovles case, Navalny stated that he was not going to attend the meeting. This was explained by the fact that each trip to the court involves the payment of tickets and hotels for both himself and his lawyers. These expenses were not reimbursed to him after the first trial, as he was convicted. The second time to spend money on trips to Kirov, he does not intend. However, literally the next day, the oppositionist admitted that he received compensation for 3,4 million rubles, which means an excuse, and in other words it is difficult to call such “arguments”, was no longer relevant.
As a result, at the meeting, Alexei Navalny did appear, but the next day he ignored the hearing. However, 13 December 2016, the opposition announced his intention to nominate his candidacy for the presidency of the Russian Federation. There is a suspicion that the anti-corruption fighter made such a statement not by chance, because before the elections are more than a year old, and most likely there is an attempt to kill two birds with one stone. First, to make a highly probable and unfavorable court decision politicized, and secondly, to popiar long before the election race. Partly, the plan was a success: the politician has not yet officially become a candidate, but after such statements he is already beginning to attract attention.
Speaking about Navalny’s presidential ambitions, one must admit that the blogger has practically no chance of becoming the head of state, which he himself, we must assume, knows well. We can recall the autumn elections to the State Duma. The scandal with the collapse of the so-called "demo coalition" and the liquidation of the "Progress Party" by the Ministry of Justice for numerous violations, among which, by the way, was falsification of signatures. As a result, the opposition leader remained outside the election race.
After numerous indignations and complaints, Alexey Anatolyevich seemed to accept himself, but acted according to the principle - “if not me, then no one”. Namely, immediately before the elections in his blog, he laid out the results of a sociological research conducted by his team, which was true. The data of this survey showed that in reality, none of the opposition parties that were part of the very same demo coalition did not gain 1% of the population’s support.
And he took this step also by chance. The discrediting of associates in the demo-coalition allowed Alexei Navalny to save a place under the sun in the protest movement of Russia and to prove its importance and necessity for sponsors. And they play an important role in the life of a fighter against corruption, since no one knows the official source of income of the oppositionist. He himself claims that he earns money through legal activity, but again, there is hardly a person who is ready to name numerous cases won by the lawyer Navalny. And the “great” lawyer lives far from being poor.
But back to the trial. So, on January 27, Mr. Navalny again did not appear at the meeting, which provoked the court to make a decision to forcibly deliver him to Kirov.
In his blog, the oppositionist, defying in front of an audience, said that he had a plane ticket, and supposedly vainly and senselessly the bailiffs accompanied him to the courthouse. But after all the bases were, and Alexey Anatolevich would use this ticket, the big question.
But the opposition leader’s self-praise did not end there either. The judge took into account that he was forcibly taken to the process and decided to place the accused under a written undertaking not to leave the place, which, however, the latter refused to sign. Moreover, Navalny said that on Saturday he was going to open his election headquarters in St. Petersburg. As a lawyer, he should be aware that ignoring such a preventive measure is threatening a real term.
It turns out that the election campaign has not yet begun, but Navalny is already risking his freedom to open an election headquarters in St. Petersburg. What is not populism? In fact, the opposition is purposefully trying to create an image of a political victim.
Based on the foregoing, it is not difficult to guess what the blogger will do if he concludes. Most likely, he will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights with a complaint about the infringement of the right to political activity. In this case, the politician will attract Western journalists for self-promotion and once again accuse the authorities of tyranny. But the ECHR is unlikely to satisfy his claim, given that the actions of the Russian judicial authority will be completely legitimate.
Whether the oppositionist is guilty or not, the court will decide whether it will be allowed before the political struggle is also unknown, especially since there are currently no elections being held. Thus, it is quite obvious that Navalny is engaged in populism, and not in politics or in the fight against corruption. Building your campaign on the negative is the only thing that still attracts its audience. At the same time, one may ask: what has the oppositionist done useful? Maybe he helped the orphanage or built any way? Recall such feats difficult.
Well, in the end, who can say when Navalny appeared on the political arena, when he became such an ardent oppositionist? Yes, at that very moment when they began to suspect him of involvement in the theft of "Kirovles".
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