Alexei Navalny: Russian opposition leader 'found guilty'

Kurzweil

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May 25, 2011
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URUSI: Mahakama yamkuta na hatia ya Rushwa Kiongozi wa Kambi ya Upinzani Alexei Navalny. Hatoruhusiwa kugombea Urais wa Taifa hilo.

- Hii mara ya pili kwa kiongozi huyo kushtakiwa baada ya Mahakama ya Haki za Binadamu ya Ulaya kudai hakutendewa haki katika mashtaka ya mwaka 2013.
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Russia's leading opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has been found guilty of embezzlement, local media report.

A judge was still reading the verdict in the city of Kirov, but news agencies said it was clear in his remarks that Mr Navalny was found guilty.

Even a suspended sentence would bar him from running for the presidency next year.

Mr Navalny says the case is politically motivated. It relates to his time as an advisor to the Kirov governor.

This was a retrial, after the European Court of Human Rights said he was not given a fair hearing at the first trial, in 2013.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to hand Mr Navalny a five year suspended sentence.

Who is he?
Mr Navalny, 40, is known for his anti-corruption campaign, which targeted senior officials close to the Kremlin. He says the case is an effort to keep him out of politics.

He has recently stepped up his political activity after announcing plans last year to run for the presidency in 2018. Mr Putin is allowed by the constitution to run for a second consecutive six-year term, but he has not said yet if he plans to run.

Mr Navalny's rise as a force in Russian politics began in 2008 when he started blogging about alleged malpractice and corruption at some of Russia's big state-controlled corporations.

He described the president's United Russia as "the party of crooks and thieves", a phrase that stuck among many in Russia.

What are the accusations?
In the first trial, in 2013, Mr Navalny was found guilty of heading a group that embezzled timber worth 16m roubles ($500,000; £330,000) from the Kirovles state timber company while working as an adviser to Kirov's governor, Nikita Belykh.

He has described the rerun of the trial as an "exact copy" of the original proceedings.

He stood for Moscow mayor in 2013 and got more than a quarter of the vote, a surprise for many.
 
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