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“Representatives of Estonia and Latvia have gone to court,” the court’s press service said in a statement.
At the time, diplomatic sources told the BNS news agency that an employee of the Lithuanian Embassy in Moscow also attended the meeting.
Navalnas, 44, considered the most prominent critic of the Kremlin, was sued last June for “insulting honor and dignity” by 95-year-old veteran Ignatius Artyomenko.
At the time, the Inquiry Committee said the veteran had advocated in a promotional video for a constitutional amendment passed last summer that would pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to remain as head of state until 2036.
Navalnas posted a video on Twitter calling the veteran and others in the clip “embarrassment to the country,” “unconscious” and “traitors.”
If convicted, Navalns could face up to two years in prison.
At the February 5 court hearing, A. Navalnas did not admit his guilt and said that he did not understand the accusations.
Previously, the trial was suspended because Navaln was being treated in Germany for his nerve-paralyzing substance Novičiok, developed by Soviet scientists in August after his poisoning.
Earlier this month, Moscow’s Simonowski District Court ruled that Navaln, 44, would have to spend two years and eight months behind bars for violating the terms of a probation sentence imposed on him in a case of embezzlement in 2014.
Navaln’s latest prosecution is linked by his lawyers, like himself, to the upcoming elections for the president of the Russian Federation and the State Duma, with the aim of eliminating the possibility of a critic of the Kremlin.
“The aim is to prosecute Navalna to stop her anti-corruption investigations and eliminate the possibility of her running for the RF State Duma elections … and the RF presidential elections,” lawyer Vadim Kobzev said last week.
The lawyer added that the case in question is fictitious, contrary to the law and has no basis.
Navalnas himself pointed out in court that the accusation was linked to his active political activity and his criticism of the current government.
British and French diplomats are present at a preliminary hearing on a defamation case against a veteran.
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