Moscow Court Upholds Navalny's Suspended Sentence

By RFE/RL's Russian Service
August 01, 2016

MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has refused to change the suspended sentence of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to an actual prison term.

The Lyublino District Court ruled on August 1 that the request by Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to change Navalny's suspended sentence cannot be satisfied, saying there were no gross violations in his actions in executing the sentence. 

The FSIN requested Navalny's immediate imprisonment, complaining that he had regularly violated the conditions of his suspended sentence by failing to visit a parole officer.

Navalny, along with his brother Oleg Navalny, was found guilty in December 2014 of large-scale theft from two Russian firms between 2008 and 2012 and handed a 3 1/2 year suspended sentence.

His brother was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Both brothers rejected the charges as politically motivated.

With reporting by rapsinews.ru and TASS