The move comes shortly after the notorious Kremlin critic was added to Russia’s ‘terrorist and extremist’ list
The brother of jailed opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been placed on a wanted list, facing criminal charges, by Russian authorities shortly after the country’s Federal Penitentiary Service asked a Moscow court to replace his suspended sentence with a jail term.
On Wednesday, Oleg Navalny’s photo and personal details appeared on the Russian Interior Ministry’s database. According to the request, he is wanted “under an article of the Criminal Code.” However, no details of which specific crimes he stands accused of have been made available.
His lawyer, Nikos Paraskevov, told RIA Novosti that the arrest warrant was related to his absence from his place of residence and failure to turn up for inspection for over a month.
On Tuesday, the Federal Penitentiary Service appealed to judges in the Russian capital to change the younger Navalny brother’s suspended sentence into jail time. A hearing will be held on February 18.
According to them, Oleg “does not properly comply with court-imposed restrictions” in the so-called “sanitary case.”
A probe was launched by investigators last January against the opposition figure’s brother and eight other people, who are accused of inciting breaches of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions linked to a pro-Navalny rally in Moscow on January 23.
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