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dimecres, 21 de desembre del 2011

ALEKSEI NAVALNY

Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (Russian: Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, born June 4, 1976) is a Russian political and social activist who in recent years has gained prominence amongst Russian bloggers and mass media due to his social campaigning activity. He uses his popular LiveJournal blog to organize serial large-scale petitionings by Russian citizens addressing issues mainly related to heavy corruption in Russia in accordance with Russian laws which appear to be widely ignored by top Russian officials and state-controlled businesses. He also regularly writes articles on topics he is concerned about in several top Russian mass media such as Forbes Russia. In an interview with Reuters, he warned that Vladimir Putin's tightly controlled political system is so weakened by corruption that Russia could face anArab Spring-style revolt within five years. [1]

In 2011, the BBC has described Navalny as "arguably the only major opposition figure to emerge in Russia in the past five years"[2]. He was dubbed "Russia'sErin Brockovich" by Time magazine[3] and named Person of the Year 2009 by Vedomosti.[4] Navalny was a World Fellow at Yale University's "World Fellows Program" aimed at "creating a global network of emerging leaders and to broaden international understanding" in 2010.[5] He graduated from People's Friendship University of Russia in 2003.[6]

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In 2000, Navalny joined the Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko",[7] where he was a member of the Federal Political Council of the party. In 2002, Navalny was elected to the regional council of the Moscow branch of Yabloko.[8] In December 2007, a meeting was held by the Bureau of the "Yabloko" party, on the issue of Navalny's exclusion from the party, with demands of "the immediate resignation of party chairman and all his deputies, and the re-election of at least 70% of the Bureau."[9] Navalny was expelled from Yabloko "for causing political damage to the party; in particular, for nationalist activities."[10]

Navalny is a minor stockholder in several major Russian state-related corporations and some of his activities are aimed at making the financial properties of these companies transparent. This is required by law, but there are allegations that some of the top managers of these companies are involved in thefts and are obscuring transparency.[11] Other activities deal with wrongdoings by Russian Militsiya, such as Sergei Magnitsky's case, improper usage of state's budget funds, quality of state services and so on.

In October 2010, Navalny turned out to be an outstanding[citation needed] winner in virtual "Mayor of Moscow elections" held in the Russian Internet by Kommersant and Gazeta.ru. He received about 30,000 votes, or 45%, with the closest rival being "Against all candidates" with some 9,000 votes (14%) followed by Boris Nemtsov with 8,000 votes (12%) out of a total of about 67,000 votes.[12]

In November 2010, Navalny published[13] confidential documents about Transneft's auditing. He claims that the published scan is the one of original document. According to Navalny's blog, about four billion dollars were stolen by Transneft's leaders during the construction of the Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.[14][15]

In February 2011, in an interview with the radio station finam.fm, Navalny called the main Russian party, United Russia, a "party of crooks and thieves".[16] Shortly after, a pro-party lawyer declared that some regular members of United Russia had asked him to proceed against Navalny.[citation needed] In May 2011, the Russian government began criminal investigation into Navalny, widely described in Western media as "revenge", and by Navalny himself as "a fabrication by the security services".[17][18][19] Meanwhile, "crooks and thieves" became a popular nickname for the party.[20] On 7 December 2011, President Medvedev's official Twitter account retweeted a statement by United Russia member Konstantin Rykov which claimed that "a person who writes in their blog the words 'party of crooks and thieves' is a stupid, c*cksucking sheep".[21] This retweet was quickly deleted and described as a mistake by the Kremlin, but gained wide attention in Russia and abroad.[22]

In August 2011 Navalny publicized papers related to a scandalous real estate deal[23] between Hungarian and Russian governments.[24][25] According to the papers, Hungary sold a former embassy building in Moscow for $21mln to an offshore company of V.Vekselberg, who immediately resold it to the Russian government for $111mln. Irregularities in the paper trail implied a collusion. Hungarian officials responsible for the deal were detained in February 2011, but no investigation was started on the Russian side.

Alexey Navalny at the courthouse, December 6, 2011

In December 2011, after parliamentary elections and accusations of electoral fraud,[26] some 6,000 gathered in Moscow to protest the fraud and some 300 were arrested including Navalny. After a period of uncertainty, Navalny was produced at court and thereafter sentenced to the maximum 15 days "for defying a government official. He plans to appeal the verdict." Alexei Venediktov called the arrest "'a political mistake: jailing Navalny transforms him from an online leader into an offline one.'"[27] Navalny was kept in the same prison as several other activists, including Ilya Yashin and Sergei Udaltsov, the unofficial leader of theVanguard of Red Youth, a radical Russian communist youth group. Udaltsov has gone on hunger strike to protest against the conditions.[28]

Navalny was arrested December 5, 2011, convicted and sentenced to 15 days in jail. Since Navalny was arrested, his blog has become available in English.[29]On his release on December 20, Navalny called on Russians to unite against Putin whom he said would try to snatch victory in a March 4, 2012 presidential election that was sure to be unfair. [30]

Navalny told reporters on his release that it would be senseless for him to run in the presidential elections because the Kremlin would not allow them to be fair. But he said that if free elections were held, he would "be ready" to run. [31]


[edit]See also

[edit]References

Wikinews has related news:Russia's main airport faces high danger from dump birds
  1. ^ Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, "Putin's Russia could face revolt: whistleblower" June 1, 2011
  2. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16057045
  3. ^ Schreck, Carl (9 March 2010). "Russia's Erin Brockovich: Taking On Corporate Greed". Time. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Персоны года — 2009: Частное лицо года" (in Russian). Vedomosti. 30 December 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  5. ^ "The World Fellows: Alexey Navalny". Yale University. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  6. ^ Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, 'NEWSMAKER-Protests pitch Russian blogger against Putin' December 11, 2011
  7. ^ "Navalny, Alexey Anatolich". Kommersant.ru. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  8. ^ "About Navalny". Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  9. ^ "Navalny, Alexey". Lenta.ru. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  10. ^ "Azar, Ilya". Gazeta.ru. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  11. ^ "Activist presses Russian corporations for openness". Forbes. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  12. ^ "Выборы мэра Москвы" (in Russian). Gazeta.ru. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  13. ^ "Как пилят в Транснефти" (in Russian). LiveJournal. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  14. ^ "Russia checks claims of $4bn oil pipeline scam". BBC News. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  15. ^ Soldatkin, Vladimir (2011-01-14). "Russia's Transneft denies $4 bln theft". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  16. ^ "Пил, РосПил, освоение. Государство, криминал, бизнес. Каким будет финал?" (in Russian). finam.fm. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  17. ^ "Russian blogger Alexei Navalny faces criminal investigation", The Guardian, May 10, 2011
  18. ^ Catherine Belton, "Russia targets anti-graft blogger", Financial Times, May 10, 2011
  19. ^ Alexander Bratersky, "Navalny Targeted in Fraud Inquiry", The Moscow Times, May 11, 2011
  20. ^ Daniel Sandford, BBC News: "Russians tire of corruption spectacle", http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15972326
  21. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/07/medvedev-tweet-russian-blogosphere-frenzy
  22. ^ Cite error: Invalid tag; no text was provided for refs named Guard; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
  23. ^ http://hetivalasz.hu/english_world_affairs/its-ugly-but-it-was-ours-25964
  24. ^ http://navalny.livejournal.com/609880.html
  25. ^ http://themoscownews.com/business/20110221/188433935.html
  26. ^ Ioffe, Julia, "Russian Elections: Faking It", The New Yorker blogpost, December 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  27. ^ Ioffe, Julia, "Putin’s Big Mistake?", The New Yorker blogpost, December 6, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  28. ^ Vladimir Putin's persecution campaign targets protest couple, Guardian, retrieved 17/12/2011
  29. ^ "The Blog on Navalny in English". LiveJournal. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  30. ^ Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, "Navalny challenges Putin after leaving Russian jail" December 20, 2011
  31. ^ Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, "Navalny challenges Putin after leaving Russian jail" December 20, 2011

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