Wow. Just wow. It’s not easy to surprise me with the agility of the judicial system, but today set a new record.
The civil lawsuit in the "Kirovles case" was "heard." I didn’t even go. I’ve got plenty to do, so I thought: why go on the first day, sit there, and wait for motions to be considered? Besides, I assumed it would most likely be postponed—no one except me had really been properly notified about the case.
But Judge Borisov of the Nikulinsky District Court carried out the task assigned to him with precision. Without the plaintiff (Kirovles), without one of the defendants (Opalev), without either of them being notified, without considering on the merits a single document, having rejected every motion—including the request to obtain Kirovles’s accounting records—he kept darting into the deliberation room and darting back out, rattling off denials at top speed.
Twenty minutes before the court closed, he ran off again and came back with the ruling: the claim was granted, and 16 million rubles were to be recovered from the defendants.
A very brief reminder: Ofitserov bought timber for 14.5 million rubles and sold it for 16 million rubles. The fact that he officially paid 14.5 million through a bank transfer is confirmed not only by his own documents, but also by the verdict.
In fact, no one disputed that Ofitserov had paid the 14.5 million. It was just one of Bastrykin’s inventions—an "unequal exchange," under which the entire turnover was deemed stolen. That invention was recognized as a failure—people laughed a little too loudly—and in the Yves Rocher case, only the profit was declared "stolen."
And then—bam. Pay 16 million. So that makes 30 million in total.
Now I definitely won’t avoid the inventorying of Zoe the hamster. What especially infuriates me is that they’ve once again dragged in the completely innocent Ofitserov, whose only fault is the misfortune of knowing me. It’s not enough to ruin just me—he’s also a "person involved in the case," so now they’ll be taking property away from a family with six children.
The people who came up with this have no conscience.
I obviously don’t have 16 million rubles, and I won’t be able to pay it. As I wrote before: it’s unpleasant, but I’m taking it philosophically—apparently, this is something I’ll just have to live through. Once again: I feel especially bad for Petya Ofitserov and his wife Lida.
I have no doubt that the European Court of Human Rights will sooner or later pass judgment on this nonsense, although it may take a long time.
It’s all right—truth is on our side, and it will prevail anyway.
A comment from my lawyer, Vadim Kobzev:
Today, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow, in the person of Judge Borisov, by its ruling brought to completion and gave legal form to the theft by bankruptcy receiver Malygin of 16 million rubles belonging to Navalny and Ofitserov. Judge Borisov knew perfectly well and was fully aware that KOGUP KIROVLES had long since received 14.7 million of those 16 million, and had not returned it. Judge Borisov understands perfectly well that by his ruling he has ordered the recovery, for a second time, of money that has already been paid, and that as a result of enforcing his decision KOGUP KIROVLES will receive a total of around 31 million rubles. What happened is, at a minimum, unjust enrichment, and at worst theft, in which Judge Borisov is a participant. I hope that this circumstance will receive proper legal assessment from the Investigative Committee of Russia during its review of Navalny’s crime report. In addition, this is a continuation of the authorities’ broader campaign to ruin A.A. Navalny. I am convinced that Opalev, who cooperated with the investigation under a plea agreement, was given guarantees that his property would remain safe. During the proceedings, we gave the judge every opportunity—from transferring the case to another court to providing a detailed calculation of the damages. The judge did not make use of those opportunities, preferring instead to curry favor personally as quickly as possible.