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Alexander Lebedev was today found guilty of beating a businessman when he punched him during a TV chat show, a Moscow judge ruled.

But the media tycoon avoided jail and was sentenced to 150 hours of compulsory work. A charge of hooliganism motivated by political hatred under which he could have been jailed for up to five years was withdrawn.

The charge was seen by critics as an attack on press freedom and politically motivated. Mr Lebedev, 53, owns major Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta and his son Evgeny is the owner of the Evening Standard and The Independent titles.

The judge ruled there was no political element present in the 2011 live TV debate before the “punch-up” with Sergei Polonsky but he convicted the KGB agent turned businessman on a battery charge. Mr Lebedev announced after the hearing that he would appeal the sentence

Evgeny said today: "I am relieved that my father has been spared a custodial sentence, and that this deeply worrying time for our family is finally at an end.

"We are grateful for the messages of support we have received from friends and well wishers, in Russia and around the world."