Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a screen set up at a court room of the Moscow City Court via a video link from his prison colony provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service during a hearing of an appeal against his nine-year prison sentence in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. A Russian court has rejected Navalny's appeal of a nine-year prison sentence for fraud.The Tuesday rejection means Navalny will be sent to a strict-regime prison, according to the independent news site Mediazona. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian court on Tuesday rejected opposition leader Alexei Navalny's appeal of a nine-year prison sentence for fraud.
The rejection means Navalny will be sent to a high-security prison, according to the independent news site Mediazona.
Navalny, the Kremlin's most persistent critic who had built a nationwide network of supporters, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he had been recuperating from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.
Authorities said the six months of recovery abroad violated terms of a 3ˆ½-year suspended sentence in a fraud case.
In March, he was sentenced to nine years in a separate case alleging that he defrauded supporters by seeking donations to run for president even though he knew the previous conviction disqualified him from being a candidate.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a screen set up at a court room of the Moscow City Court via a video link from his prison colony provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service during a hearing of an appeal against his nine-year prison sentence in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. A Russian court has rejected Navalny's appeal of a nine-year prison sentence for fraud.The Tuesday rejection means Navalny will be sent to a strict-regime prison, according to the independent news site Mediazona. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The Associated Press
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a screen set up at a court room of the Moscow City Court via a video link from his prison colony provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service during a hearing of an appeal against his nine-year prison sentence in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. A Russian court has rejected Navalny's appeal of a nine-year prison sentence for fraud.The Tuesday rejection means Navalny will be sent to a strict-regime prison, according to the independent news site Mediazona. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The Associated Press