Icon: enlarge
Alexej Navalny: The Moscow court imposed a fine of 850,000 rubles (around 9,400 euros) on the opposition politician
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to a heavy fine by a court in Russia.
For allegedly insulting a World War II veteran, the Moscow court on Saturday fined the opposition politician a fine of 850,000 rubles (around 9,400 euros).
That's roughly double the average annual salary in Russia.
Navalny had sharply criticized a video broadcast in the Russian state media last summer.
In it, several citizens - including a now 94-year-old veteran of World War II - campaign for a constitutional amendment that also served to secure President Vladimir Putin's power.
Navalny insulted the people in the clip on Twitter as “traitors”.
As evidence that the old man is not a traitor, the judge referred in her almost hour-long verdict to the Ministry of the Interior, which lists him neither as a traitor nor a spy.
Navalny had repeatedly defended his right to freedom of expression and stressed that he had criticized the man as the protagonist in the video and not because of his veteran status.
He describes the 94-year-old as a "puppet" in a politically motivated process.
In the morning, the court had already confirmed a sentence of three and a half years in a prison camp.
A poison attack was carried out on Navalny last summer.
The 44-year-old was then treated in the Berlin Charité clinic.
After a long stay in Germany, he returned to Russia last month.
He was arrested there immediately.
The European Court of Human Rights only asked Russia on Wednesday to release Navalny immediately from custody.
Moscow rejected the request as interference in internal affairs.
Icon: The mirror
asc / dpa
