Putin critic Navalny jailed for 3.5 years
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been jailed for 3.5 years on Tuesday, with a judge agreeing with prosecutors that he violated probation terms from an earlier conviction his supporters have derided as politically motivated.
Earlier, Navalny denounced the court hearing, calling it a vain attempt by the Kremlin to scare millions of Russians into submission, CBC reports.
The 44-year-old Navalny, an anti-corruption investigator who is the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was arrested 17 January upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.
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Russian authorities deny the charge and claim, despite tests by several European labs, that they have no proof he was poisoned.
