Anti-Putin Dissident Navalny Sentence Commuted

Prominent opposition figure Aleksey Navalny and co-defendant Pyotr Ofitserov have been given a suspended sentence in their trumped up embezzlement trial that has attracted a lot of international attention. According to RT, President Putin's official news agency, Navalny is going to appeal the sentence.

“Neither I nor my colleagues are going to stop the political struggle. We’ll carry on,” Navalny told journalists following the court’s ruling.

Under their suspended sentence, Navalny and Ofitserov are not permitted to change their permanent place of residency without notifying a specialized government body. They will have to register with this body twice a month.

Navalny was accused of embezzlement while working as an adviser to the governor of the Kirov Region in 2009. He was convicted of large-scale theft in July and sentenced to five years in prison. The ruling ignited protests across Russia, with the main demonstration taking place in Moscow.

Navalny's real crime was that he dared run for Mayor of Moscow against Putin's man, and was going to win.