一家俄罗斯法院判定政治活动人士阿利克塞·纳瓦尔尼诈骗一家法国公司至少50万美元。
法庭判处这名现年38岁的律师和博客作者3年半监禁，缓期执行，大大低于检察官所要求的10年监禁。纳瓦尔尼的兄弟奥列格也被判定罪名成立，并被判处同样的刑期，但法庭命令他入狱服刑。
美国之音记者施锐福说，当局决定把奥列格投入监狱是一个明显的策略，目的是压制纳瓦尔尼的政治活动。
法庭把原定明年1月15日俄宣判提前到星期一，而且没有解释其中原因。一个脸书网页曾号召1月15日在克里姆林宫附近举行抗议活动，得到数万支持者的响应。
纳瓦尔尼在宣判后走出法院，敦促支持者继续抗议。他说，折磨无辜者的政权不应该存在，应该被摧毁。他呼吁支持者上街抗议，直到推翻这个政权为止。
自2月以来，纳瓦尔尼因参加一次未经批准的抗议活动而遭到软禁。
A Russian court has found political activist Alexei Navalny guilty of defrauding a French cosmetics company at least $500,000.
The court sentenced the 38-year-old lawyer and blogger to a three-and-a-half year suspended prison sentence in the case, far lower than the 10 years sought by prosecutors. Navalny's brother Oleg was also convicted and received the same sentence, but was ordered to jail.
VOA's Daniel Schearf says the decision to send Oleg Navalny to jail is an apparent tactic to stifle Alexei Navalny's activism.
The court was originally supposed to deliver the verdict on January 15, but moved up the date on Monday with no explanation of its decision. A Facebook page created to organize a protest near the Kremlin on that day had attracted tens of thousands of supporters.
Navalny emerged from the courthouse after the verdict was announced to urge his supporters to continue their protests. He said, “this power does not deserve to exist, it should be destroyed. I am calling today on everybody to take to the streets, I'm calling to take to the streets until the power which tortures innocent people is removed."
Navalny has been under house arrest since February for participating in an unauthorized protest.
