MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) – A Moscow court has ruled to extend house arrest for prominent opposition campaigner Alexei Navalny, accused of defrauding a Russian subsidiary of French cosmetics chain Yves Rocher, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the court on Friday.
The Moscow City Court also refused to soften the terms of Navalny's house arrest.
Navalny was placed under house arrest in February. The terms of the arrest say he is forbidden from using the Internet, talking to media representatives, sending or receiving mail or receiving visitors.
Navanly, who heads the Russian Party of Progress, has previously asked the court to soften the terms of his house arrest, suggesting that he should be allowed to go to work and communicate with official agencies.
In August, the court declined a motion to replace Navalny's house arrest with pretrial custody, following prosecutors' request to put Navalny in custody for allegedly making the details of his ongoing trial public and thus violating the terms of his house arrest.
Navalny, who is accused of embezzling more than 26 million rubles ($734,000) from Yves Rocher along with his brother Oleg, is already serving a five-year suspended sentence for embezzling timber worth 16 million rubles ($500,000).
