A Russian court has sentenced jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to nine years in prison on fraud charges, in a ruling that will keep President Vladimir Putin's most prominent opponent out of active politics for years ahead.
Mr Navalny, who was also found guilty of contempt of court, is already serving a two-and-a-half year sentence at a prison camp east of Moscow for parole violations related to charges he says were trumped up to thwart his political ambitions.
Mr Navalny, who the court also fined 1.2 million roubles (€10,450), has dismissed the latest criminal case against him as politically motivated and pleaded not guilty.
Russian police also detained two of Mr Navalny's lawyers after the sentencing.
Olga Mikhailova and Vadim Kobzev were detained just outside the prison in the town of Pokrov near Moscow as they spoke to reporters.
Russian prosecutors had sought to move Mr Navalny to a maximum security penal colony for 13 years on the charges.
"Navalny committed fraud - the theft of property by an organised group," judge Margarita Kotova said, according to an AFP reporter present at the trial.
Mr Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most vocal domestic critic, was jailed last year on old fraud charges after surviving a poison attack with Novichok nerve agent that he blames on the Kremlin.
The trial concerned additional embezzlement and contempt of court charges and Mr Navalny had been tried at the prison colony outside Moscow, where he is already serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
Rights groups had criticised authorities for holding the closed-door hearing inside the maximum-security prison in Pokrov, some 100km east of Moscow.
Mr Navalny had said he was being tried in prison because Russian officials were "scared" of what he would say.
Mr Navalny appeared in the makeshift court wearing his black prison uniform, with journalists watching via a video link.
He listened closely as judge Kotova read out the verdict, sometimes smiling, an AFP reporter said.
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Investigators accused Mr Navalny of stealing for personal use several million dollars' worth of donations that were given to his political organisations.
Mr Navalny's poisoning in 2020 with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent, and arrest on his return from rehabilitation in Germany last year, sparked widespread condemnation abroad, as well as sanctions from Western capitals.
After his arrest, Mr Navalny's political organisations across the country were declared "extremist" and shut down, while many key aides fled Russia fearing prosecution.
