Russian Court rejects Navalny's appeal against jail term

A Moscow court of appeals on Saturday upheld a prison sentence imposed on Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny after he returned to Russia from Germany last month.

Judge Dmitry Balashov dismissed Navalny's appeal against the Feb. 2 ruling, which overturned a 2014 suspended sentence on charges of embezzlement in jail.

The judge decided to count Navalny for six weeks as part of the time he had served, and so he will now remain in a penal colony for just over two and a half years. The ruling came even when the country faced an order from the European Court of Justice to immediately free the Kremlin's main enemy. The Russian government has rejected a claim by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to immediately release Navalny, describing its ruling on Tuesday as illegal and "inadmissible" interference in Russia's affairs.

Navalny, a 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner who has appeared as President Vladimir Putin's best-known antagonist, was captured in January when he returned to Russia after months in Germany after recovering from a nervous poisoning he suffered. Kremlin blames.

He was detained for violating the parole conditions of the suspended sentence in 2014, and it was then turned into a prison sentence.

Navalny and his followers say the decisions and various other cases against him are the pretext to expose his corruption and destroy his political ambitions. Defamation charges

He would appear in court again later Saturday in another trial where he is accused of vilification for calling a World War II veteran a 'traitor' after appearing in a pro-Kremlin video. Navalny dismissed the defamation charges and described them as part of the official attempts to disrespect him.

Prosecutors demanded that Navalny be fined $ 13,000 in that case. They also want his 2014 sentence to be commuted to actual jail time because the alleged defamation occurred while he was serving the suspended term.

Navalny's arrest and captivity sparked a wave of protests across Russia. Authorities responded with extensive repression and detained about 11,000 people, many of whom were fined or convicted to seven to 15 days in jail.