Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny banned from challenging Putin for president after being sentenced for embezzlement
Kremlin critic and anti-corruption whistleblower had earlier tweeted from the courtroom saying he expected a guilty verdict
RUSSIAN opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been found guilty of embezzlement and handed a five year suspended sentence - effectively barring him from challenging arch enemy Vladimir Putin in next year's polls.
Navalny, a Kremlin critic and anti-corruption whistle-blower, had earlier tweeted from the courtroom saying it was clear from the wording of the judge the verdict would be a guilty one.
The court is holding a retrial of Navalny's case after the European Court of Human Rights quashed the original 2013 ruling, saying that the politician and his co-defendant, businessman Pyotr Ofitserov, did not have a fair trial.
The original trial ended by slapping Navalny with a five-year suspended sentence over a timber deal.
Prosecutors have asked the judge to impose the same sentence again.
A conviction will disqualify him from standing for office, eliminating the most prominent and eloquent representative of the opposition to Putin.
The verdict came after it emerged another political opponent of Vladimir Putin fell in a coma with organ failure after suffering ‘acute poisoning’ two years after a similar attack nearly killed him.
Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza has been on a ventilator and undergoing renal dialysis since he was hospitalised after collapsing in Moscow on Thursday.
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Navalny, a 40-year-old lawyer, came to fame with punchy oratory at mass rallies in 2011 and 2012 against Putin's return to the Kremlin.
He came second in Moscow's 2012 mayoral race after taking to the streets with a Western-style campaign against a Kremlin-backed incumbent.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov asked if Navalny's possible exclusion would make the 2018 elections look bad to international observers.
He said: "As for how it will look, here we don't consider any fears to be appropriate."
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