Navalny Loses Case Against Vladimir Penal Colony Over Alleged Smartphone Ban

A district court in the Russian city of Vladimir on Thursday rejected opposition figure Alexey Navalny's lawsuit against a regional prison claiming that his lawyers were banned from bringing smartphones and laptops to meetings with him, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom

VLADIMIR (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) A district court in the Russian city of Vladimir on Thursday rejected opposition figure Alexey Navalny's lawsuit against a regional prison claiming that his lawyers were banned from bringing smartphones and laptops to meetings with him, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"To not grant [the claim]," judge Anna Veselova said.

Navalny's lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, in turn, told Sputnik that the verdict would be appealed. He also said that they planned to discuss the possibility of filing a new expanded lawsuit on the same matter. During the current hearing, the defense asked to include other episodes for consideration but was refused.

During the first hearing, a representative of the penal colony presented the applications from Navalny's lawyers initialed by the prison management, who thus gave them the go-ahead to bring devices with them to meetings with the client.

In response, Kobzev said that the documents in one copy had been handed over to the colony, noting that the defense could not know whether they were allowed to bring devices or not. He added that they were required to leave phones and smartphones at the entrance.

The prison representative denied Kobzev's claim, providing footage showing the lawyers handing over their phones of their own volition at the entrance to the institution, without anyone's request.