Sentence of Alexey Navalny on defamation of a veteran is upheld

During the court session today, on April 29, the defense of Alexey Navalny stated that the case was outside the jurisdiction of the Babushkinsky court, and several violations during the process were also indicated. According to lawyers, Alexey Navalny did not seek to slander the veteran, but "expressed his attitude towards the people who were filmed in the video, who read the preamble to the Constitution".

At the same time, the court sided with the prosecutor and upheld the verdict of the magistrate of precinct No. 321, which imposed a fine of 850 thousand rubles on Alexey Navalny on February 20, and this money will go to the state's income, the Dozhd TV channel reports.

A case of libel against a veteran (part 2 of Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code) was initiated against the politician in the summer of 2020. The reason was his tweet about the video in support of the amendments to the Constitution, in which, in particular, in addition to a number of cultural figures, Ignat Artyomenko also took part. Alexey Navalny called the participants in the video lackeys and traitors.

Alexey Navalny's appeal was considered by the deputy chairman of the Babushkinsky court of Moscow, Natalya Kurysheva, who was appointed to this post by President Vladimir Putin just a few days before the opposition's case went to court. “We will appeal in cassation”, - Vadim Kobzev, the lawyer of Alexey Navalny, told the Interfax agency after the announcement of the decision.