KIROV, April 17 - RAPSI. One week's adjournment will not provide Alexei Navalny and his lawyers with sufficient time to study the materials in the embezzlement case against him, lawyer Olga Mikhailova, who represents the opposition activist's interests, said on Wednesday.

"The period that they have given us is clearly too short," she told reporters, adding that the decision is obviously a compromise.

On Wednesday, the Leninsky District Court in Kirov postponed the Kirovles case hearing until April 24, thereby granting the defense lawyers' request to give them time to study the case materials after a new lawyer joined the team.

Commenting on their decision to add Kirov attorney Sergei Kobelev to the team, Mikhailova said this was simply a part of their strategy. "We will resort to all of the means available to us," she said.

Navalny's lawyers hope to receive a fair hearing. "The court will try to consider the case justly," she said when asked to comment on the adjournment.

Meanwhile, Judge Sergei Blinov has granted Navalny's lawyers one week to review the material, although they had initially requested a month.

According to the investigators, Navalny organized the theft of over 10,000 cubic meters of timber while serving as a voluntary adviser to the governor in the Kirov Region. The timber was allegedly stolen from the Kirovles company between May and September 2009 in collusion with Vyatka Timber Company Director Pyotr Ofitserov and Kirovles CEO Vyacheslav Opalyov.

Navalny is a Yale-educated political activist. He has earned world renown as a whistleblowing blogger striving to expose corrupt practices. He has also gained recognition for his role in the opposition movement from late 2011 to mid-2012.