Moscow court orders Navalny back to prison

As guards led him out of the courtroom, Russian dissident Alexei Navalny told his wife, Yulia, “Everything will be fine.” Russian authorities arrested him on Jan. 17 as he returned from a five-month convalescence in Germany after being poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. A court on Tuesday ordered him back to prison for more than 2½ years.

What was his crime? The court said that while in Germany, he violated the terms of his probation from a 2014 embezzlement conviction. Navalny said the original conviction was fabricated for political reasons and noted the European Court of Human Rights has ruled it unlawful. Protesters have gathered across the country for the past two weekends calling for Navalny’s release. Authorities closed four subway stations near Manezh Square in Moscow after his supporters called for immediate demonstrations following Tuesday’s ruling.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report in Globe Trot on Navalny’s poisoning last year.