The corruption trial of a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin has resumed far away from Moscow.  The defendant, Alexei Navalny, says the charged against him are politically motivated.

The 36-year old Navalny is famous in Russia for scathing blogs alleging corruption in Russia’s highest echelons.  He made his name by purchasing shares in state-run companies and using his stakeholder position to acquire internal documents that he said showed officials had stolen more than $150 million from the state-controlled VTB bank and a staggering $4 billion from the oil pipeline operator Transneft.

Navalny’s document-based blogs have filled an information gap in Russia, where state-pressure has severe curtailed what reporters can (or are willing to risk their lives to) illuminate.  The lawyer soon became the Kremlin's public enemy No.1.

Navalny is accused of wrongly obtaining half a million dollars from a timber company.  His trial is taking place in the town of Kirov, 950 Kilometers northeast of Moscow.  Despite the distance, a hundred of his supporters trekked the distance to be there.  Observers from the US embassy and the European Union are there as well.