Alexey Navalny – The Trial of Navalny: Day Three

We continue to tell you about what is happening in the trial of Navalny. The third meeting ended today. It again interrogated witnesses for the prosecution, and some of them were quite unexpected. What, however, can not be said about their testimony.

The trial was supposed to begin with a re-interrogation of Fyodor Gorozhanko, who yesterday publicly stated that he was forced to testify under pressure. From what he said during interrogation at the Investigative Committee, he refused and added that Navalny had never engaged in illegal activities.

Gorozhanko did not appear in court today. Later, he told reporters that he refused to participate in the process further, because he feared for his safety. The prosecutor only needed this: finding that there was no one to interrogate, she immediately wanted to read Gorozhanko’s testimony. The same ones that he gave under pressure in the UK and which he refused. The judge was not embarrassed, and she allowed. There is no doubt that it is this interrogation that the court will consider reliable and will form the basis of the guilty verdict.

However, the prosecutor did not stop there. She stated that investigator Alexander Kemerov, the same one who interrogated Gorozhanko, had appeared in court and was ready to testify. Kemerov entered the hall and gave evidence. True, it was almost inaudible because of the mask, but something could be made out. For example, he claimed that he did not put pressure on Gorozhanko, but this is proved by the fact that Gorozhanko’s signature is in the protocol of interrogation. The magical power of the signature – according to the UK, it ensures that a person gives evidence of his own free will.

Then Ilya Remeslo spoke in court. This is a pseudo-lawyer and corrupt blogger who has been receiving money for many years for “exposing” Navalny and scribbling statements against him. It was he who spoke in court: he went up to the podium and, like Serukanov did yesterday, began to retell his many years of posts denouncing Navalny. But his fiery speech, apparently, seemed to the prosecutor too lengthy, and she soon demanded that Craft’s testimony from the case file be read out as well. Apparently, in court, he forgot some important words.

The problem, however, turned out to be that in his previous interrogations there was also nothing on the merits of this criminal case. Instead, Ilya Remeslo expressed concern that the FBK was collecting donations for its anti-corruption investigations, although it does not have official authority to conduct these investigations. That is, Ilya Craft is not worried about corruption, but only the fight against it.

After questioning the witnesses, the prosecutor continued to read out the case file.

Thus, of the three witnesses for the prosecution who have already testified in court, one retracted his testimony, and two cannot explain anything about the essence of the charges. The Investigative Committee called them simply because these people for many years earned themselves a reputation as corrupt propagandists, ready to lie for money. They don’t even try to answer questions, they just accuse Navalny in monologue mode of everything they can think of.

The fact that this criminal case was fabricated was immediately clear. But now no one even tries to pretend that it is generally the subject of consideration of this court. Navalny is being tried simply for being Navalny, a man who is not afraid of Putin and exposes corruption. And the court does not even care about formalities like witnesses.

The next meeting will be held on February 24 at 10.00.