Navalny's conviction in Russia a chilling message

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow judge on Tuesday left open the possibility of jailing President Vladimir Putin’s main critic for years, a sign of Putin’s increasingly hard-line rule against opponents.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was fined $8,400 on Tuesday for slandering a lawmaker. His second trial starts Thursday, and prosecutors who previously secured his house arrest are widely expected to ask for jail for him pending trial, with Tuesday’s verdict making him a recidivist. If there’s a guilty verdict at that trial, he could get a prison term.