(20 Feb 2021) A Moscow court on Saturday rejected Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal against his prison sentence.
Earlier this month, Navalny was sentenced by a lower court to two years and eight months in prison for violating terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany.
A judge at Moscow City Court ruled Saturday that a month-and-half that Navalny spent under house arrest in early 2015 will be deducted from his prison sentence.
The ruling came even as the country faced a top European rights court’s order to immediately free the Kremlin’s most prominent foe.
Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption crusader and President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic, was arrested on January 17 upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.
Russian authorities have rejected the accusation.
His sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny has rejected as fabricated and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled to be unlawful.
Navalny has asked the Moscow City Court to overturn the sentence and set him free.
Navalny’s arrest and imprisonment have fueled a huge wave of protests across Russia. Authorities responded with a sweeping crackdown, detaining about 11,000 people, many of whom were fined or given jail terms ranging from seven to 15 days.
In a ruling Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Russian government to release Navalny, citing “the nature and extent of risk to the applicant’s life.”
The Russian government has rebuffed the Strasbourg-based court's demand, describing the ruling as unlawful and “inadmissible” meddling in Russia’s affairs.
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