The verdict was handed down to Lefortovo District Court Judge Margarita Kotova, who sentenced her to nine years in prison for โstrict administrative deportationโ fraud and contempt of court, the Sputnik news agency reported.
The fraud case began more than a year ago. Navalny allegedly stole and used more than 350 million rubles ($ 3.1 million) donated to the Anti-Corruption Foundation for personal use, Sputnik said, referring to the details of the investigation.
His anti-corruption organization called FBK had been named an โextremist organization and foreign agentโ last year and was subsequently banned by Russian authorities.
The second indictment concerns Navalnyโs alleged insult of a judge Vera Akimovawho sentenced him to 850,000 rubles ($ 7,500) for defaming a World War II veteran, Ignat ArtemenkoSputnik continued to report, adding that the two crimes were investigated separately, but before being brought to court, they were merged into one case.
Russian prosecutors in the case demanded Navalny be sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 1.2 million rubles ($ 10,600) for fraud and contempt of court.
Meanwhile, Navalnyโs lawyer Olga Mikhailova said the courtโs decision will be appealed and said: โOf course we will appeal the verdict.โ
As a dramatic development, police arrested Navalnyโs lawyers later Tuesday because they couldnโt get out of the way, Sputnik reports.
Source: ANI
Source: The Nordic Page