MOSCOW, October 10 (RAPSI) – Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court has upheld the prosecutor’s motion to extend the house arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny imposed on him in the Yves Rocher embezzlement case, RAPSI reports from the court on Friday.

Navalny asked the court to mitigate his house arrest and allow him to use social media sites. In particular, he asked the court to allow him to go to his office, to take walks, and to correspond with the courts and other official agencies.

He argued that an order not to leave the country would be more sensible in his case and proposed an alternative: a 300,000-ruble ($7,460) bail.
However, the court refused to mitigate the terms of his house arrest.

Navalny’s attorney, Olga Mikhailova, said that her client applied to the European Court of Human Rights regarding his house arrest, and that the Russian Justice Ministry had responded to the European court’s questions. She said the court could adopt a decision in this case in the near future.

Navalny has remained under house arrest since March 28. He was prohibited from using the Internet after restrictions were imposed on him in the Yves Rocher embezzlement case.

Navalny and his brother Oleg stand accused in a fraud case involving cosmetics company Yves Rocher Vostok. Investigators allege that the Navalny brothers embezzled up to 26 million rubles (about $650,300) from the cosmetics company, as well as close to 4 million rubles ($100,000) from the Multidisciplinary Processing Company by way of a fraud scheme. The brothers were further charged with having laundered 21 million rubles ($522,260).