MOSCOW, January 13 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court will hear the appeal against the asset seizure of opposition activist Alexei Navalny as part of the proceedings in the Yves Rocher Vostok embezzlement case on January 15, the court website reports on Monday.

The court seized the bank accounts and assets of Navalny brothers Alexei and Oleg in November  2013. Federal investigators formally charged the Navalny brothers with fraud in a case involving cosmetics company Yves Rocher Vostok in October 2013.

Investigators allege that the Navalny brothers had embezzled upwards of 26 million rubles from the cosmetics company, as well as upwards of 4 million rubles from the Multidisciplinary Processing Company by way of a fraud scheme. The brothers were further charged with having laundered 21 million rubles.

Alexei ran for Moscow mayor in 2013, losing to the Kremlin-backed incumbent, but boosting his public exposure through a vigorous grassroots campaign. He gained just over 27 percent of the vote, well above what initial polls suggested he would get.

On appeal in a separate criminal case, Alexei received a suspended sentence based on his conviction on charges of timber embezzlement in July stemming from a stint spent serving as an advisor to Kirov governor Nikita Belykh between May and September 2009. Investigators had alleged that Na Alexei organized the theft of over 10,000 cubic meters of timber during that period in collusion with Vyatka Timber Company Director Pyotr Ofitserov and Kirovles CEO Vyacheslav Opalyov.

He was initially sentenced to five years in a penal colony, and his co-accused Pyotr Ofitserov received a four-year sentence. The two were held liable to pay a one million ruble fine between them. On October 16, however, a court in Russia's Kirov region suspended Alexei’s sentence.