BFF-33 Russia court rejects Navalny complaint over poisoning

174

ZCZC

BFF-33

RUSSIA-POLITICS-COURT-NAVALNY

Russia court rejects Navalny complaint over poisoning

MOSCOW, March 22, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – A Russian military court on Monday
rejected a complaint from jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny over the lack
of a criminal investigation into his poisoning.

The 235th military court in Moscow dismissed the complaint from Navalny,
who accuses Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) of carrying out the
poisoning, a spokesperson told AFP.

The opposition figure, who is serving a two-and-a-half year sentence in a
penal colony east of Moscow, was not present in court and refused to take
part via video link.

Navalny has accused Russian investigators of not launching criminal
proceedings to find those responsible for his attack in the Siberian city of
Tomsk in August last year.

Navalny fell violently ill on a flight over Siberia in August and within
days was airlifted to Germany for treatment, where he spent months in
recovery.

Western experts later concluded that the 44-year-old had come in to
contact with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve toxin.

Siberian police conducted preliminary checks after Navalny was
hospitalised in August but refused to launch a criminal case citing the “lack
of the event of a crime”.

After returning to Moscow in mid-January, Navalny was immediately detained
by authorities on charges of violating parole while abroad and in February
was sentenced to jail time.

Navalny says the poisoning was carried out on the orders of President
Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement and instead accused German
authorities of refusing to cooperate on the investigation, despite Berlin
transferring documents of Navalny’s questioning by German investigators.

Russia has brushed aside calls from Western governments to probe the
attack, with some officials suggesting that Navalny may have been poisoned in
Germany or even poisoned himself.

BSS/AFP/BZC/1735HRS