Today saw the eighth hearing in Navalny’s case. And at last, the defense began presenting its position.
At the start of the hearing, Alexei’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova asked to question five witnesses — all of them were present. The prosecutor tried to argue that the need for these examinations had to be justified, but the judge ignored her. After all, they are still somewhat hesitant to hand down verdicts on the spot.
The first witness was journalist Yevgenia Albats. She said that every month she donated 10,000 rubles (about $110) to various Navalny projects, and considers it the best investment of her life.
Next to testify was Sergei Davidis, a representative of the dissolved Memorial (the prominent Russian human rights organization). He also said that he had repeatedly donated money to various Navalny projects, including his presidential campaign. He does not feel deceived. According to him, it was known from the very beginning that Navalny might be barred from the election. So it cannot be said that he misled anyone by concealing this.
The same was confirmed by Bozhena Rynska, the defense’s third witness. According to her, everyone knew that Navalny might be barred from the election, but still donated money voluntarily, herself included. She also said that the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) defended her interests and did so very effectively.
The next witness, Konstantin Margolis, donated to the ACF 16 times. He believes that all the money was spent without any profit being extracted; moreover, as a donor he regularly received reports from the Foundation on all expenditures.
The fifth witness, history teacher Raushan Valiullin, worked as a volunteer on Navalny’s mayoral campaign. He was not paid for his work, but he saw where the money went — to printing leaflets and posters, and to the campaign headquarters’ work overall.
The prosecution repeatedly addressed the witnesses and emphasized that Navalny is not on trial for collecting donations, but for allegedly embezzling them. But in reality this is a rhetorical device. Navalny is not being tried for stealing anything. A financial examination conducted by the Investigative Committee showed that he never received a single kopek from ACF funds. This was directly confirmed in court by the Investigative Committee’s own expert.
According to the indictment, Navalny is being tried for allegedly spending money raised for his campaign and the Foundation on purposes other than those stated. Specifically: he raised money to fight corruption, but spent it on extremism. On the “overthrow of the existing system” — that is stated outright in the case materials. But because this accusation would seem absurd to any reasonable person, the prosecution tries not to remind anyone of it too often and instead insinuates that Navalny personally stole something.
At the next hearings, the defense will continue calling its witnesses to court — and there are far more of them than there are witnesses for the prosecution. And these will not be paid-off bloggers, but real people from different professions and different regions who donated money to Navalny and can confirm in court that no one deceived them. We will continue reporting on this, but without your help it loses its purpose. These videos need to be shared. Now, when the last independent media outlets are being banned, the value of reliable information is greater than ever. And each of us can do our part and tell the truth.
Freedom for Alexei Navalny.