MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Moscow City Court declined a motion Friday to replace house arrest with pretrial custody for Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, currently on trial for suspected defrauding of a Russian subsidiary of French cosmetics chain Yves Rocher.
Prosecutors requested to place Navalny in custody earlier in the day for allegedly making details of the ongoing trial public and thus violating the terms of his house arrest.
Navalny was placed under house arrest in February, whose terms dictate he is forbidden from using the Internet, talking to media, sending or receiving mails and receiving visitors.
On Friday, a district court in Moscow is holding another preliminary hearing of the case against Navalny and his brother Oleg, accused of embezzling more than 26 million rubles ($734,000) from Yves Rocher.
Alexei Navalny is heading the Party of Progress. In 2013 he finished second in the mayoral election in Moscow, gaining 27 percent of votes.
He is already serving a five-year suspended sentence for embezzling timber worth 16 million rubles ($500,000).
Navalny denies all the charges, saying they are politically motivated.
