Moscow's Appeals Court Holds Punishment for Navajo

Navalny, the fiercest critic of the Kremlin, says the issue against him is politically motivated. He asked the judges to order his release, referring to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that the case was groundless and Russia is commanded to release it. Moscow rejected the request as illegal.

Appeal Court Judge Dmitry Balasov, however, decided that the six weeks of Navalny's domestic arrest would be considered a time of serving the sentence. Navalny will suffer in prison the rest of his sentence, just over two and a half years.

Later Saturday, Navajo appeared again in court over another case, charged with slandering a World War II veteran. The court sentenced him and ordered him to pay a fine of 850,000 rubles (about $11,500, U.S.).

Navalny was arrested on January 17th after his return to Moscow from Germany after a long recovery from an almost deadly poisoning attack for which he and Western countries have blamed President Vladimir Putin's government.

Russian authorities have denied any involvement in the incident and have refused to investigate the assassination attempt, citing lack of evidence.

Navalny's ban has led thousands of his supporters to take to the streets in Russia to seek his immediate release. Russian police have arrested several thousand protesters.

The United States and their European allies have condemned the Navajo ban and the Russian authorities' aggressive response to demonstrators. / VOA