A Russian court on Tuesday found Kremlin critic and opposition leader Alexei Navalny guilty of fraud, state media report.
Navalny, who is already serving a two and a half year jail sentence for a theft case he claims is politically motivated, is now facing a 13-year prison sentence in a maximum security facility.
“Navalny committed fraud, i.e., the theft of someone else’s property by deception,” Judge Margarita Kotova said while announcing the verdict in a Moscow courtroom, according to Russian state media.
Navalny was convicted on allegations that he embezzled more than $4 million from his own nonprofit organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, as well as on charges of contempt of court.
RUSSIA SEEKS EXTENDED PRISON SENTENCE FOR OUTSPOKEN PUTIN CRITIC NAVALNY
In August 2020, Navalny survived an assassination attempt via a Novichok nerve agent. The Russian dissident blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning.
He was jailed in January 2021 after recovering in Germany from the poisoning and returning to Russia.
Russia added Navalny to its “extremist and terrorist” list in January 2022, and his Anti-Corruption Foundation was banned in Russia and labeled an “extremist” organization last year.
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From his jail cell, Navalny has called on Russians to protest Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him the “obviously insane tsar.”
“We cannot wait even a day longer. Wherever you are,” Navalny said in a statement released by his spokesperson, “in Russia, Belarus, or on the other side of the planet. Go out onto the main square of your city every weekday at 19.00 and at 14.00 at weekends and on holidays.”
