Europe 1 with AFP 16:34 pm, May 20, 2023
The Rennes Court of Appeal confirmed an order of dismissal in favor of the Yves Rocher group challenged by the defense of the Russian opponent Alexei Navalny. The latter had filed a plant against the French cosmetics firm for "slanderous denunciation".The Court of Appeal of Rennes has confirmed an order of dismissal in favor of the Yves Rocher group contested by the defense of Alexei Navalny, who had filed a complaint against the cosmetics company for "slanderous denunciation", AFP learned Saturday from the lawyer of the Russian opponent. "This decision is totally incomprehensible, an appeal is seriously considered," responded to AFP William Bourdon. In 2019, Alexei Navalny and his brother Oleg filed a complaint in France for "slanderous denunciation" believing that Yves Rocher had unjustly accused them of fraud in Russia, where the cosmetics group has been established since 1991.
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In 2012, the Russian judiciary opened an investigation into alleged embezzlement allegedly committed by the company Glavpodpiska, owned by the Navalny brothers, to the detriment of the Russian subsidiary of the French group, Yves Rocher-Vostok. Thanks to these investigations, Yves Rocher had said to have "discovered several concordant and important clues making the existence of a scam plausible. The firm based in Morbihan had then filed a complaint against X to have access to the file.
Sentenced to three and a half years in prison for embezzlement
The group later admitted that it had not suffered any harm but this did not prevent Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's sworn enemy, from being sentenced in Russia in December 2014 to three and a half years in prison suspended for embezzlement to the detriment of Yves Rocher's Russian subsidiary. His brother Oleg had received the same sentence, but firmly.
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Navalny's reprieve was later revoked, with Russian authorities accusing him of breaching judicial oversight measures while recovering in Germany after surviving a poisoning attempt. Alexei Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon his return from Berlin. At the end of May 2022, Alexei Navalny was also sentenced in Russia to an additional nine years in prison for the alleged embezzlement of donations made to his anti-corruption organizations, charges he denies and considers politically motivated.