MOSCOW -- A Moscow court has rejected Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal of his prison sentence and another judge later has ordered him to pay a fine for defaming a World War II veteran.
Navalny was sentenced this month to two years and eight months in prison for violating terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.
During a Saturday court hearing on his sentence, Navalny urged Russians on to stand up to the Kremlin in a fiery speech mixing references to the Bible and “Harry Potter.”
The Moscow court's ruling came even after a top European rights court ordered authorities to immediately free Navalny.
