Navalny sentenced as supporters detained outside Moscow courthouse

A judge has sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny Tuesday night to two and a half years in a prison colony. The anti-corruption campaigner was charged with violating a 2014 suspended sentence for embezzlement by skipping check-ins with Russian law officials while he was recuperating from poisoning in Germany.

The U.S., U.K., and Germany have called on Russia to immediately free Navalny.

Hundreds of protesters have been detained outside the courthouse in Moscow where Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is on trial Tuesday. He is accused of flouting the terms of a suspended sentence for embezzlement.

Navalny spent five months recovering in Berlin from the nerve-agent Novichok poisoning he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities reject the accusations.

National Guard members stood outside the court building Tuesday as the judge retired to consider the verdict. Navalny could be sent to prison for years.

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