Russian Prosecutor Seeks Three Years In Prison For Father Of Navalny Associate

A prosecutor has asked a court in Russia to sentence Yury Zhdanov, the 67-year-old father of Ivan Zhdanov, a close associate of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, to three years in prison on charges of fraud and forgery that he and his supporters reject as politically motivated.

The prosecutor made the request in a court in Russia's Arctic city of Naryan-Mar, on December 15, Yury Zhdanov's lawyer, Vladimir Voronin tweeted.

Earlier in the day, the court rejected Yury Zhdanov's request to be transferred to house arrest.

Zhdanov was arrested in late March and went on trial in October.

Ivan Zhdanov, the former chief of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has accused Russia's presidential administration of trying to pressure him by arresting his father.

Yury Zhdanov is accused of recommending that the administration of a remote town in Russia's Arctic region -- where he worked as an official before retiring last year -- provide a local woman with a subsidized apartment, though it later turned out that the woman's family had previously received housing allocations.

The apartment was later returned to municipal ownership in accordance with a court decision and no one among those who made the decision was held responsible.

Navalny's FBK was known for publishing investigative reports about corruption among Russia's top officials, including President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this year, FBK and other groups associated with Navalny were labeled as extremist and banned in Russia.