Russian opposition leader Navalny sentenced to 5 years in jail

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Russian court handed down a guilty verdict Thursday, July 18 morning for opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a Moscow mayoral candidate and vocal Kremlin critic, sentencing him to five years in jail on embezzlement charges, RIA Novosti reported.

The court, in the city of Kirov, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of Moscow, found Navalny guilty of organizing an embezzlement scheme that cost a local state-owned company, KirovLes, some $500,000, by forcing it to sell timber at below-market prices when he served as an unpaid advisor to the Kirov Region’s governor in 2009.

Navalny, who has denounced the case as politically motivated, was cuffed by court marshals and led out of the courtroom shortly after the judge announced the sentence.

The conviction, unless overturned upon appeal, will prevent Navalny, a whistle-blowing blogger well-known for leading large-scale anti-Kremlin protests, from running for public office.

The only co-defendant in the trial, Pyotr Ofitserov, was also found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison.

Both men pleaded not guilty and said they plan to appeal. Navalny’s supporters have pledged to hold unsanctioned demonstrations in downtown Moscow and some 20 other cities and towns nationwide on Thursday evening.