Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to 3.5 years in jail by the Russian high court. He was sentenced on the grounds that he was violating the terms of parole.
Alexei was arrested on January 17, upon his return from Germany after undergoing treatment for poisoning. It was suspected that the Kremlin had been behind the incident, to take down one of their biggest critics. He has been campaigning against Vladimir Putin and his corrupt practices for several years, thereby earning the wrath of the ruling party.
Following the issue of this verdict, nationwide protests erupted, calling for Navalny’s release. After the court’s ruling, his supporters encouraged people to gather in central Moscow to protest. According to Reuters’ reporters, hundreds of protesters and the police detain some of them. Some of them chanted, “Putin is a thief!” and “Putin is a poisoner!”. More than 1050 protestors were arrested by the Russian police, as they stood their ground in subzero temperatures and sought the release of Navalny.
Judge Natalya Repnikova ordered a suspended three-and-a-half-year sentence Navalny received on fraud charges in 2014 to be changed to time in a penal colony, an AFP journalist at the courthouse said. Navalny had spent time under house arrest after the 2014 conviction — which was denounced by the European Court of Human Rights — and Repnikova said that would count as time served.
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