MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI) – Russian prosecutors have filed a request with Moscow’s Basmanny District Court seeking house arrest for opposition activist Alexei Navalny, according to a statement released by the Investigative Committee Wednesday.
Navalny and his brother Oleg stand accused in a fraud case involving cosmetics company Yves Rocher Vostok. Investigators allege that the Navalny brothers embezzled upwards of 26 million rubles (over $730,000) from the cosmetics company, as well as upwards of 4 million rubles (over $110,000) from the Multidisciplinary Processing Company by way of a fraud scheme. The brothers were further charged with having laundered 21 million rubles.
Investigators allege that Alexei Navalny violated the terms of a restriction notice connected with the case. In January, he was reportedly spotted in the Moscow suburb of Odintsovo, which would imply that he violated the travel restriction imposed by investigators.
In addition to this, he was jailed for seven days Monday after having been among 420 individuals arrested for participating in an unauthorized protest of the sentencing of several activists for their roles in riots that swept central Moscow in May 2012.
Navalny was accused of having participated in an unsanctioned protest, inciting chaos, and resisting arrest. He denied having done anything wrong, reminding the court of a suspended sentence he was handed last year. He stressed that he did not wish to rock the boat.
He has already been given a suspended sentence of five years for the embezzlement of Kirovles funds.