Anushka Mansharamani
A Moscow court sentenced Kremlin’s critic Alexei Navalny to three and half years jail time for violating his terms of parole.
This decision brought triggering fierce condemnation from the West and this called for his immediate release.
Britain, France, Germany, the United States and the European Union denounced the ruling, as Moscow accused the West of interfering in its affairs.
The supporters of Alexei Navalny called for demonstrations over the ruling after thousands of people nationwide joined the protest against his arrest over the last 2 weekends.
Alexei Navalny was accused of violating his parole conditions after he refused to check in with the prison officials and was thereby arrested on 17th January when he flew back to Moscow from Germany where he spent months recovering the poisoning.
Alexei Navalny stated that he could not attend the meetings due to his appointments while he was in Germany, however, the judge stated that he skipped the meetings prior to the poisoning.
As per the order, Alexei Navalny’s home arrest time would be counted as time served and Olga Mikhailova, Navalny’s lawyer told journalists that as per that he would now serve around two years and eight months in prison.
Subsequently, his legal team has decided to appeal, and Alexei Navalny is expected to stay in detention in Moscow during the appeal.