Russian court find Navalny guilty

A court in Moscow sentenced Alexei Navalny, a major critic of Putin, to three and a half years in jail, stating that his jail time would be adjusted against the time he had spent in house arrest. Mr. Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent in August last year. He was eventually hospitalised in Germany due to his critical condition, and returned to Russia a few weeks ago, where he was arrested almost immediately. Authorities claim he violated the terms of his parole, specifically for a suspended sentence in an embezzlement case in 2014, which was deemed politically motivated by the European Court of Human Rights. His arrest sparked protests across Russia, and subsequent arrests or detention of thousands of protestors. There have also been cases of police brutality. While the Kremlin could have, in all likelihood, removed Navalny from the political scene in many ways, there would be international condemnation as well as political blowback. However, it seems that Russian authorities have decided to weather the losses of such a controversial decision.