As Russian Court Hands Navalny Sentence, His Past and Future Stand Trial Too
On 2/2/21 at 6:00 PM EST
As a Russian court slaps opposition activist Alexei Navalny with a nearly three-year prison stay, the firebrand blogger-turned-politician's controversial past and uncertain future also stand trial in what is likely a fateful moment for his country.
Navalny was sentenced Tuesday by Moscow's Simonovsky District Court to two years and eight months to be served in a penal colony, after Russian authorities accused him of parole violations stemming from a 2014 fraud charge that carried a suspended sentence.
The sentencing follows his ascent against the odds through the ranks of Russia's notoriously limited choices to challenge more than two full decades of rule under President Vladimir Putin and his officials, and a direct brush with death in surviving an apparent poisoning he and his supporters at home and abroad blame on the Kremlin.