MOSCOW
Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny has been sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security penal colony after being found guilty in a major fraud case on Tuesday.
A court in the town of Pokrov, east of the capital Moscow, where Navalny, 45, is already serving out a sentence in a prison camp for violating his parole, also fined him 1.2 million rubles ($11,519).
The prosecution sought a 13-year sentence for Navalny plus a penalty of 1.2 million rubles (about $10,000) for the charges, which include contempt of court, while the defense insisted on Navalny's innocence and pressed for acquittal.
Navalny was convicted for organizing a “criminal organization” together with his companions Leonid Volkov and Roman Rubanov to raise funds for Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.
According to investigators, instead of financing the foundation, Navalny spent money on “extremism” and his personal needs.
In total, Navalny allegedly stole over 2.6 million rubles (about $22,000) from four individuals, who later filed a lawsuit against Navalny and others.
Navalny also reportedly insulted prosecutor Ekaterina Frolova, who supported an accusation against him at the trial for defaming a World War II veteran and his grandson.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 after a hospital stay in Germany, where he was treated for poisoning. Western countries and Navalny himself blamed Russia for the poisoning, a charge the Kremlin denies.
