Anti-Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the verdict announcement of his criminal case in 2014 | Dmitry Serebryakov/AFP via Getty Images Russian opposition leader barred from running in 2018 election Alexei Navalny says case is politically motivated.

Alexei Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found guilty of embezzlement Wednesday, the AP reported. The verdict bars him from running in Russia's presidential election in 2018.

He was given a five-year suspended sentence, as demanded by prosecutors. Navalny maintains that the charges were politically motivated.

As the guilty verdict was read out, Navalny tweeted pictures of the earlier verdict, which he stated were "copy-pasted 100 percent."

Navalny came to prominence in 2008 when he began writing about high-level corruption in Putin's close circles, and subsequently gained a reputation as an opposition activist. He announced last year he would run in the 2018 elections.

Navalny had been convicted at an earlier hearing, but the European Court of Human Rights overturned the verdict in 2013, stating that he did not receive a fair trial.

Пока дословно зачитывает прежний приговор pic.twitter.com/nDe7jmRKy3 — Alexey Navalny (@navalny) February 8, 2017