Alexei Navalny
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has no right to participate in the presidential elections in 2018. On Tuesday, October 24, TASS said the head of the state office of public Prosecutor of Russia on supervision of observance of the rights and freedoms of citizens Larisa Kopteva.
She explained that under the law, the citizen may not be elected to the presidency, if he is kept in prison, convicted of a felony, or if he has not removed and outstanding previous conviction.
Koptev stressed that a suspended sentence is also considered sufficient grounds for refusal of registration of the candidate, and the crime that Navalny is guilty, is classified as serious.
In July the head of the Central electoral Committee Ella Pamfilova said that the opposition has no chance to participate as a candidate in the presidential elections because of his criminal record until 2028.
In February Leninskiy district court of Kirov sentenced Navalny to five years probation for embezzlement of state enterprise “Kirovles”. The first verdict in this case was issued in July 2013. In November 2016, the Supreme court, relying on the ruling of the ECHR found the violation of the rights of defendants to a fair trial, overturned the verdict and sent the case back for re-consideration to the Kirov court. As the second court took into account that three years since the first sentence already passed the sentence, Navalny will expire in August 2018.
The opposition has another suspended sentence of 3.5 years in the case of “Yves Rocher” about the fraud and money laundering obtained by criminal means. This sentence was handed down in 2014.