海角大神

鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

The conviction and five-year sentence of a prominent Russian anticorruption campaigner has reverberated throughout the country, with opposition members calling it proof of President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 crackdown on dissent.

Opposition activist and corruption blogger Alexei Navalny was convicted of embezzling nearly a half-million dollars from a Russian timber company while advising the governor of Kirov in 2009. The court鈥檚 ruling came the day after Mr. Navalny , according to RIA Novosti. The conviction, unless appealed and pending at the time of elections, , reports The Wall Street Journal. Navalny has said he would like to run for president in the 2018 election.

"The court, having examined the case, has established that Navalny organized a crime and ... the theft of property on a particularly large scale," Judge Sergei Blinov read in the verdict, explicitly stating there were no 鈥減olitical motives鈥� to the ruling.

A European Union spokesman criticized the court鈥檚 decision, stating that the charges were unfounded and that Navalny鈥檚 imprisonment presented of the rule of law in Russia,鈥� according to the BBC. US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul , "We are deeply disappointed in the conviction of [Navalny]聽and the apparent political motivations in this trial."

Navalny鈥檚 case is member in the country, according to The Washington Post:

[A]s he was led into custody, it became clear that those in power in Russia have chosen not to be subtle as they crack down on the opposition鈥�.

Navalny had been hoping for a suspended sentence, in the belief that the Kremlin would want to avoid a backlash if it appeared too harsh.

"With today's ruling, he is a dictator who sends his political opponents to prison," opposition politician Boris Nemtsov told Reuters.

Before the trial began in the spring, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin 鈥渄oes not interfere, can't interfere, and in this case has no right to interfere.鈥�

海角大神鈥檚 Moscow correspondent, Fred Weir, described Navalny as one of 鈥渟even Russians to watch鈥� after large-scale protests against vote-rigging broke out in December 2011. The demonstrations created 鈥渇resh leaders鈥� in Russia that uniquely arose 鈥渨ithout the Kremlin's backing.鈥�

Arrested in an unsanctioned rally to protest electoral fraud on Dec. 5, Navalny emerged from prison 15 days later聽with his credibility as an activist greatly enhanced聽and some people already citing him as a possible presidential contender capable of challenging Putin. Nominations for 鈥� presidential polls are already closed, but Navalny has made clear that he will work against Putin and could run against him if it became possible.

Addressing the massive Dec. 24 rally in聽Moscow, Navalny flirted with sedition by remarking, "I can see that there are enough people here to seize聽the Kremlin聽right now. We are a peaceful force and will not do it now. But if these rogues and thieves try to go on cheating us, if they continue telling lies and stealing from us, we will take what belongs to us with our own hands."

According to Reuters, Navalny has 鈥渃aptured the mood鈥� of Russians disappointed and disenchanted with Putin鈥檚 lengthy rule. The president took office for a third term last year, and has been accused of using courts as a tool to silence opponents.

But the opposition leader鈥檚 rise 鈥渉as also been dogged by accusations that he has nationalist tendencies and his appeal is limited outside the big cities,鈥� Reuters reports.

The BBC reports that television media in Russia paid little attention to the court proceedings, though, 鈥渋n an unusual step, the court allowed the whole trial to be broadcast live online.鈥� Navalny posted on Twitter during the trial and during the reading of his legal fate. "Okay, don't miss me. More important - don't be idle," he tweeted after his sentence was announced.

鈥淪how me another person who, acting almost alone, has been able within a year to deal a tangible blow to a political monopoly of such magnitude,鈥� Grigory Golosov, a St. Petersburg political scientist wrote before the trial began, according to The Washington Post. 鈥淎fter two decades of unbridled political ridiculousness, he has largely rehabilitated political debate as meaningful.鈥�

Mr. Navalny鈥檚 co-defendant, Petr Ofitserov, was sentenced to four years in prison.