Judge Margarita Kotova added to this sentence a year and a half of probation and a fine of 1.2 million rubles, or about 10,000 euros at the day’s rate, while the Kremlin critic has already been imprisoned for more than a year.
He will have to serve his sentence in a “severe regime penal colony”, which means the terms of his detention will be stricter.
The charismatic anti-corruption activist and former lawyer, 45, was being tried since mid-February in an improvised court behind the walls of his penal colony, 100 km east of Moscow.
Mr Navalny was accused of embezzling millions of rubles in donations to his anti-corruption organizations and “contempt of court” during a previous trial.
After his sentencing, Alexei Navalny promised to continue his fight against the Kremlin and admitted that Vladimir Putin was “afraid of the truth”, in a series of tweets.
He wrote, “Putin is afraid of the truth, I have always said so. The fight against censorship, bringing the truth to the people of Russia, is our priority.”
Navalny’s lawyers were briefly arrested
AFP journalists noted that lawyers for the Russian rival were arrested outside the penal colony on Tuesday, minutes before they were sentenced to 9 years in prison.
Olga Mikhaslova and Vadim Kobzaev were arrested on the grounds, it seems, that they were obstructing traffic in front of the prison, talking to the press.
Less than an hour later, Mi Kobzaev announced on Twitter that he and his colleague had been released.
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