Kremlin critic says charges are bogus and designed to keep him out of politics
Journalists were not let into the courtroom but were able to watch proceedings on CCTV from a special media room nearby, although the feed was cut almost as soon as the sentence was pronounced.
Dressed in dark prison uniform and flanked by his lawyers, Mr Navalny smiled occasionally as he listened to the judge. In a message posted on social media on Thursday, Mr Navalny had predicted he would get a long jail term, but said it hardly mattered because he was also threatened with separate terrorism charges that could bring another decade.
The European Union condemned what it called another politically motivated ruling and called for Mr Navalny’s immediate release. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said the sentence raised renewed serious concerns about judicial harassment and the use of the court system for political purposes in Russia.
In February, Mr Putin ordered the FSB security service to raise its game to “identify and stop the illegal activities of those who are trying to divide and weaken our society”.
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