Navalny, who led anti-Putin protests, was sentenced for embezzlement in trial seen as part of campaign to stifle dissent

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A Russian court gave Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny a suspended sentence on Tuesday for embezzling money but jailed his brother for three and a half years in a case seen as part of a campaign to stifle dissent.

Navalny led mass protests against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, three years ago, when tens of thousands took to the streets in Moscow and St Petersburg to protest against corruption in Putin’s government and inner circle. Opposition figures say jailing Navalny risked a new wave of protests and so it was decided to punish him by jailing his brother instead.

The Navalny brothers were accused of stealing 30 million roubles (about £334,000 under the current exchange rate) from two firms, including an affiliate of the French cosmetics company Yves Rocher, between 2008 and 2012.



Tuesday’s ruling will come as a relief for Navalny’s supporters after prosecutors asked that he be imprisoned for 10 years. The Kremlin denies allegations that it uses the courts to persecute opponents.

Officials have taken few steps to investigate Navalny’s corruption allegations. He claimed there was mass embezzlement, including in state bank VTB and pipeline monopoly Transneft, run by close allies of Putin.

“Aren’t you ashamed of what you are doing?” Navalny told the court and judge Yelena Korobchenko.

“Why are you putting him [my brother Oleg] in prison? To punish me even harder?”

Currently under house arrest, Navalny is serving another suspended five-year jail term for a separate conviction last year, which critics also called a sham.

“The authorities are torturing and destroying relatives of their political opponents. This regime doesn’t deserve to exit, it must be destroyed,” Navalny told reporters outside the court as he was escorted in a car for prisoners.

The feminist punk band Pussy Riot released a new video urging people to protest against the sentence later on Tuesday. They called on demonstrators to gather at 7pm local time (4pm GMT) in Manezh Square, directly in front of the Kremlin.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A video released by Pussy Riot urging people to protest against the sentencing of Alexei Navalny

The video features Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina dressed in 1920s costumes, cleaning the Moscow snow using Harry Potter-style brooms. A pounding soundtrack has the lyric: “Clean … honest … word … deed.” The video ends with Pussy Riot flying magically over the Kremlin’s impenetrable walls.

The announcement of the verdict had been abruptly brought forward from next month after Navalny’s supporters announced plans for a large protest on 15 January.

Hugh Williamson, Europe and central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the sentencing might have been designed to warn off other Putin critics.

“The sentence, and the imprisoning of his brother, Oleg Navalny, seems aimed not only at punishing Alexei Navalny himself and stopping his anti-corruption work, but also intimidating other critics of the government,” he said.

“The Kremlin seems to be telling independent voices to expect a harsher crackdown in 2015. Many factors point to political motivations in the case against Alexei and Oleg Navalny.

“By moving up the verdict, the Russian authorities apparently sought to diminish planned demonstrations. They also pushed those planning to protest [against] a guilty verdict to the margins of the law, by denying them enough time to comply with local regulations.”