The Moscow City Court on Tuesday sentenced Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny to two years and eight months in prison for violating parole.

The court turned his suspended sentence in a 2014 criminal case into a full custodial sentence, handing Navalny a three-and-a-half-year jail term, minus nearly a year he spent under house arrest from Feb. 28 to Dec. 30 in 2014.

Navalny pleaded not guilty, and demanded his immediate release. His lawyers, Vadim Kobzev and Olga Mikhaylova, said they would appeal the conviction.

In 2014, Navalny was convicted for fraud and embezzlement but his sentence was suspended and replaced with six years of probation. He was obliged to report to the police twice a month.

However, after his alleged poisoning with a nerve agent last year, the condition to appear before the police was put on hold for the duration of his treatment in Germany.​​​​​​​

Since he was discharged, the relaxation ended in September 2020. But, according to the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, he did not provide any objective reasoning for his non-appearance, and was thus put on a wanted list.

Upon his return to Russia on Jan. 17, Navalny was arrested at the airport, which provoked mass protests throughout Russia. According to rights activists, over 5,000 people were detained on Jan. 31./aa