>>12810393
Moscow court orders Kremlin foe Navalny to prison
A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison for more than 2 1/2 years, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning. The ruling ignited protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Navalny, who is the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, had denounced the proceedings as a vain attempt by the Kremlin to scare millions of Russians into submission.
After the verdict that was announced about 8 p.m., protesters converged on areas of central Moscow and gathered on St. Petersburg’s main avenue, Nevsky Prospekt.
Helmeted riot police grabbed demonstrators without obvious provocation and put them in police vehicles. The Meduza website showed video of police roughly pulling a passenger and driver out of a taxi.
The ruling came despite massive protests across Russia over the past two weekends and Western calls to free the 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner.
…
>https://apnews.com/article/alexei-navalny-russia-court-hearing-756b164d581d756b66b2fdc5bbe15932