![]() On 2 May, Halya Coynash, writing on the website Human Rights in Ukraine noted that a man reportedly responsible for the attack on Navalny was said to be Aleksandr Petrunko, who had led pro-Russian activists in an attempt to seize control in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2014. That day Aleksei Navalny announced he was filing an official complaint against police for failing to investigate the attack on him. As RFE/RL reports, Navalny wrote that he had lost 80% of the vision in his right eye as a result of the green antiseptic thrown in his face - a liquid which possibly also contained other harmful chemicals. Navalny also alleged that the attacker was Aleksandr Petrunko who was helped, Navalny alleged, by one Aleksei Kulakov, a police officer in civilian clothes. On 5 May, reports said Igor Beketov, leader of the radical pro-Kremlin South East Radical Block (SERB), said police plan to question him and his colleagues over the attack on Navalny. 'Navalny Accuses Police Of Failing To Investigate Attack,' RFE/RL, 2 May 2017On 3 May Kirov Regional Court upheld an embezzlement verdict against Aleksei Navalny and his co-defendant, Petr Ofitserov. The ruling means that Navalny will not be able to stand as a candidate in the upcoming 2018 presidential elections. As RFE/RL reports, Navalny and Ofitserov were convicted in 2013 of large-scale embezzlement from a state timber company, Kirovles. They both received suspended sentences of five and four years respectively and both were fined 500,000 roubles each. The retrial came about after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2016 that the 2013 legal proceedings had not been a fair trial. The ECtHR called the actions of the two men 'indistinguishable from regular commercial activity.' However, in the retrial the two were again convicted. On 4 May, as The New York Times reported, Navalny said the authorities were preventing him from travelling abroad for medical care for his damaged eye. However, on 7 May it was reported that Navalny had left Russia for treatment in Barcelona. Photo: RFE/RL Source: 'Navalny's Supporters Track Down His Attackers, as Police Dawdle,' The Moscow Times, 1 May 2017 Halya Coynash, 'Navalny attacker led 2014 attempt to repeat Donbas seizure of power in Kharkiv,' Human Rights in Ukraine, 2 May 2017 'Russian Court Upholds Navalny's Latest Embezzlement Verdict,' RFE/RL, 3 May 2017 Reuters, 'Kremlin Critic Navalny Says Russia Stops Him Traveling Abroad,' The New York Times, 4 May 2017Carl Schreck, 'Russian Police Probe Radical Pro-Kremlin Group Over Navalny Attack,' RFE/RL, 5 May 2017 |
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