MOSCOW, July 9 (RAPSI) - The trial for Sergei Maksimov, who was charged by German prosecutors with hacking Alexey Navalny’s email and Twitter accounts in June 2012, has been extended due to a new witness, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.

Earlier, it was reported that the trial that began on June 24 at the District Court of Bonn would only take two days.

According to a court spokesperson, the judge ruled that the trial be extended because the plaintiff’s lawyer claimed to have another witness who could offer relevant testimony. The witness is currently in Russia and needs a visa to enter Germany. Therefore, the trial has been extended until July 21. If the witness cannot obtain a visa by that time it is possible that the hearing could be postponed again.

The court knows the name and address of the witness. However, this information cannot be disclosed. The court’s spokesperson added that it is not a Navalny family member but “possibly, his secretary who could, according to the attorney, explain the details of the email hacking to the court.”

As previously reported, Sergei Maksimov, 41, a German citizen, allegedly claims to be Hacker Hell who presumably hacked about 100 emails, including the emails of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. After the hacker published Navalny’s correspondence with Kirov Region governor Nikita Belykh in the summer of 2012, Navalny was charged with various economic crimes.

Maksimov is facing a fine and a two-year prison term. The alleged hacker refused to testify and pled not guilty.

Navalny said in his blog that the Bonn prosecutor’s office opened a case against Maksimov after he and his supporters informed German law enforcement authorities about the hacking.

According to Navalny, German police searched Maksimov’s apartment in 2013, where they allegedly seized a computer and hard drives and other data storage devices that were signed “Hacker Hell” and contained Navalny’s emails.

However, the owner of a Twitter account that belongs to “Hacker Hell” has written that he and Maksimov are two different people. The account owner said he knew Maksimov, who allegedly told him in 2013 that he was being investigated by the Germans at Navalny’s request.

Alexei Navalny is a Russian political and public figure, leader of the Party of Progress. He ran for Moscow mayor and is the author of one of the most popular political blogs that was banned for promoting unauthorized public protests. He has already been given two suspended sentences for embezzlement – five years in the Kirovles case and 3.5 years in the recent Yves Rocher Vostok case.