Alexey Navalny: Russian authorities launch new criminal investigation against Russian opposition leader

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Russia’s main investigative body said on Tuesday it had launched a new criminal case against Navalny on charges of fraud involving his alleged mishandling of $ 5 million in donations to his Anti-Corruption Foundation and other organizations.

The foundation has been the subject of several criminal and administrative cases, which Navalny and his allies believe are politically motivated.

“It was found that for the needs of several non-profit organizations, including the Anticorruption Foundation … more than 588 million rubles [$7.9 million] were collected from individuals as donations, “the Committee of Inquiry said in a statement.” These funds were intended exclusively for the purposes of these foundations. “

The committee of inquiry claims that Navalny, as head of these organizations, conspired with others and “spent more than 356 million rubles [$4.8 million] from these funds in a personal capacity [expenses], Including purchases of goods and “holidays abroad”.

“Thus, the funds collected from the citizens were stolen,” the committee said.

The move came after Russian criminal authorities threatened to shut down the opposition politician for failing to comply with the terms of his suspended sentence in a multi-year case if he failed to appear at a hearing in Moscow on Tuesday morning – an implausible timetable given 10 hours notice.

Navalny, who is currently in Germany after receiving treatment at the Berlin Charite Clinic following his August poisoning with nerve agent Novichok, whom he blamed on the Kremlin, mocked the probe on Tuesday.

“It looks like Putin is hysterical,” Navalny said of the Russian president on Twitter.

A recent investigation by CNN in collaboration with the investigative journalism site Bellingcat revealed that a team of FSB toxins, consisting of about six to 10 agents, followed Navalny for more than three years before being poisoned in August with the lethal nerve agent.
Russian authorities threaten to detain Navalny if he does not appear in Moscow by Tuesday morning
The report was followed by the revelation of a Russian agent sent to Navalny’s tail that they planted the nerve agent in panties, a detail that appeared when Navalny called the man and, presenting himself as a member of the National Security Council of Russia, pressed him for details of the operation.

Navalny said the cases of the Russian authorities were an attempt to put him behind bars or prevent him from returning to the country.

“It wasn’t so hard to predict. I said from the beginning … they will try to lock me up because I didn’t die on the plane and then I followed my assassins. Because I proved that Putin is behind her and that he is a thief who is ready to kill those who refused to keep quiet about his theft, “Navalny said in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

“I was not silent even before a life test, now even more I will not remain silent.”

Navalny has repeatedly accused Putin of ordering his poisoning. The Kremlin rejected the claim.

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