Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny found guilty of large-scale fraud

A Russian court on Tuesday found jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny guilty of contempt of court in a trial that could see his prison time extended to 13 years, an AFP journalist reported.

"By insulting the judge, Navalny committed contempt of court" judge Margarita Kotova said, minutes after declaring Navalny guilty of embezzlement, according to an AFP journalist present at the trial.

The verdict was delivered in the town of Pokrov, east of the capital Moscow, where Navalny, 45, is already serving out a sentence in a prison camp for violating his parole.

The prosecution sought a 13-year sentence for Navalny plus a penalty of 1.2 million rubles (about $10,000) for the charges, which include contempt of court, while the defense insisted on Navalny's innocence and pressed for acquittal.

Navalny was convicted over organizing a "criminal organization" together with his companions Leonid Volkov and Roman Rubanov to raise funds for Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.

According to investigators, instead of financing the foundation, Navalny spent money on "extremism" and his personal needs.

In total, Navalny allegedly stole over 2.6 million rubles (about $22,000) from four individuals, who later filed a lawsuit against Navalny and others.

For his current prison term, Navalny was arrested in January 2021 after a hospital stay in Germany, where he was treated for poisoning. Western countries and Navalny himself blamed Russia for the poisoning, a charge the Kremlin denies.