"Listen, I don’t know. This is the prerogative of the person convicted and serving sentence, of commissions — first in the prison, then in the region, then the central, and then the head of state. There is a certain order prescribed by law: the convicted person submits a petition, he says that he admits guilt, what kind of guilt he admits, and further along, the chain goes," he said on the air of the RTVI broadcaster, answering a relevant question.
Russian opposition blogger Alexei Navalny was arrested in January upon his arrival in Russia from Germany, where he received medical treatment for alleged poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent. A court rescinded his suspended sentence in the 2014 Yves Rocher fraud case over multiple probation breaches and sentenced Navalny to two-and-a-half years in prison.