President Vladimir Putin has promoted judge Margarita Kotova, who tried the case of Alexei Navalny and is due to sentence him. Kotova will be transferred from the Lefortovsky District Court to the Moscow City Court. The decree was published on the portal of legal information, The Insider.
Screenshot from Putin's decree
In addition to Kotova, the former chairman of the Basmanny Court, Irina Vyrysheva, became the judges of the Moscow City Court, who, as The Insider, has already worked in the city instance, and Veronika Zudinova from the Royal Court of the Moscow Region.
Earlier, Navalny's associates, having ordered the billing of Judge Kotova, found out that during the process she constantly called up an employee of the presidential administration. So, for example, on the first day of the trial, Vladimirov called Kotova 13 minutes before the start of the hearing, two more times within an hour, and also at lunchtime. “It seems as if the entire first day of the trial is imprisoned for these telephone conversations. The process cannot start without them. Breaks are specially announced for these calls, ”said Ivan Zhdanov, an associate of Navalny.
In another criminal case, Alexei Navalny is accused of contempt of court and fraud on an especially large scale. According to the prosecution, Navalny and his associates spent «for personal purposes» the money they collected with donations for work FBKand headquarters. In addition, the prosecution insists, during the consideration of the case of slandering the veteran, Navalny insulted Judge Vera Akimova, who sentenced him.
The prosecutor's office asked Navalny for 13 years in prison.