The Russian justice accuses Alexei Navalny of defamation and will restart the process to try him this Wednesday

The Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, detained since his return to Moscow on Sunday, will be Tried Wednesday for defamation of a former World War II combatant, a crime punishable by a fine or imprisonment, his lawyers announced Tuesday.

The Russian investigation committee opened this defamation case against Navalny in July, accused of having spread information “lying and injurious to honor and dignity” of a veteran of World War II (1939-1945).

That person had expressed on television his support for the constitutional referendum last summer to strengthen the powers of Vladimir Putin.

The investigation of the case was suspended during the hospitalization of the opponent in Germany after his alleged poisoning in August, of which Navalny accuses the Kremlin, which the Russian authorities refute.

Navalny was arrested on Sunday when he returned to Russia from Berlin and will be imprisoned at least until February 15 in the framework of a procedure for violation of a judicial control. He is detained in Moscow under quarantine in the wake of the pandemic.

(@Navalny) 

According to the seriousness of the facts, defamation can be punished with up to 5 million rubles of fine (57,000 dollars, about 56,000 euros) and five years in prison. You may also be subject to lighter penalties, such as general interest work.

The Russian prison service had warned that Navalny would be arrested upon his return for violating the judicial control that had been imposed on him as part of a suspended five-year prison sentence for embezzlement, which the opponent considers to be politically motivated.

Since the end of December, he has also been the subject of a new fraud investigation on suspicion of having spent 356 million rubles (4.8 million dollars, 3.9 million euros in donations for his personal use.

The charismatic anti-corruption activist and sworn enemy of the Kremlin, 44, accuses Putin of ordering his assassination by poisoning him with a Novichok-type nerve agent.