Interfax: Release of inmate at prosecutor’s demand is unprecedented – lawyer Reznik

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 19, 2013) Moscow Bar Association President Henri Reznik has called the release of opposition activist Alexei Navalny from custody with travel restrictions the day after his incarceration unprecedented.

“I must tell you I cannot recall a similar situation. I cannot remember a single case of a prosecutors’ objection to the measures chosen by a court after the sentencing of a defendant to a jail term,” Reznik told Interfax on Friday.

The lawyer said the move “unmasked the scenario entirely.” “The authorities displayed their omnipotence. They showed they could turn prosecutors into human rights defenders and order a court to pass any sentence,” he said.

The change from travel restrictions or bail to imprisonment is not compelled by the law, Reznik said. “This is a right of the court, which is an imperative here. The presumption of innocence remains in effect, the conviction is not final and there is still a right to appeal,” he said.

The lawyer expressed hope that courts would not always immediately imprison defendants sentenced to jail terms in the future.

“There is every reason to pass a suspended sentence on Navalny: this is his first conviction and he is the father of two minors,” Reznik said.

The Kirov Regional Court ruled that Navalny might be released from custody with travel restrictions until the five-year jail sentence came into effect.