Moscow court hands Navalny 2.5-yr sentence
A Moscow court on Tuesday sent Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest critic Alexey Navalny to prison for two-and-a-half years.
CNN reported the verdict was announced after a heated hearing in which the Kremlin critic ridiculed claims he broke his parole conditions while in a coma and denounced Russia's leader as "Putin the poisoner." The Putin critic was previously handed a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence in the 2014 case along with five years of probation. He had to spend five months in Germany recovering from Novichok poisoning before his return to Moscow on January 17.
Navalny blamed the attack on the President and the Russian security services -accusations that were denied by the Kremlin repeatedly. Navalny has been arrested and detained several times but had until now avoided lengthy sentences.
CNN further reported that Navalny has been arrested and detained several times but had until now avoided lengthy sentences.
While Navalny was recovering in Germany, Russian authorities had repeatedly threatened to jail him if he returned home. The opposition leader had ridiculed allegations that he could have better informed parole officers of his whereabouts while comatose, repeatedly being told by the judge to stop speaking and to the objections of prosecutors.