Sergei Mitrokhin’s blog at the Echo Moskvi web-site, July 18, 2013

Just now Russia’s political system has made another leap towards a totalitarian state.

A politically motivated indictment has been made against oppositional politician Alexei Navalny.

Also Pyotr Ofitserov, YABLOKO member, also got into hot water, his guilt was only that he was acquainted with Navalny.

The authorities even did not bother to make the case look more or less feasible. Normal economic activities were turned into “embezzlement”. The statement that the company OOO “Vyatka Forest Company” received timber at lowed prices was not confirmed by anything.

The court identified 16 million roubles, that is, the total amount of deliveries to the VFC, as damage. And they do not care that 14 million roubles out of the “stolen” 16 million roubles were received by the Kirovles company immediately, and the delay with the rest of the sum was due only with filing of the case and poor book-keeping of Kirovles.

The bell has rung, and everything else becomes unimportant.

No matter what we have with different political views with Alexei, as well as methods of political struggle.

No matter what we did not feel any support from the rest of the opposition, when Ivan Bolshakov, my Deputy Chair [of the YABLOKO branch] in Moscow, came in 2008 to the announcement of a crazy verdict on his case of a broken arm of a policeman. We were lucky then and Ivan was given five years probation.

No matter that not so long ago our regional leader Maxim Petlin, was imprisoned in Ekaterinburg on the same trumped-up charges, but his political opponent and the acting head of Alexei Navalny’s headquarters – Leonid Volkov – shouted that Petlin was a scoundrel and petty criminal. But Volkov realized too well that the charges had been fabricated, and court allowed wiretapping of Petlin’s conversations only proceeding from the fact that Petlin had been participating in the “Strategy 31” [movement for the freedom of assembly].

No matter that Alexei Navalny assistants accused me of listening to their telephone conversations (why is this any lie better than that which is being currently voiced by the Kirov “court”?).

The bell has rung, and all this does not matter now.

What matters is that anyone, including myself, can be the next.

That is why I am coming to Manezhnaya Square today at 19:00.