Lawyers and prosecutor speak after Navalny ruling

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's lawyers on Saturday said they will appeal the decision of a Moscow court that ordered Navalny pay a fine in a defamation case.

The court convicted Navalny on charges of slandering a World War II veteran and ordered him to pay a fine of 850,000 rubles (approx. 11,500 US dollars).

Navalny called the 94-year-old veteran and other people featured in a pro-Kremlin video last year "corrupt stooges", "people without conscience", and "traitors".

He rejected the slander charges, describing them as part of official efforts to disparage him.

A few hours earlier, The Moscow City Court rejected Navalny's appeal of his prison sentence, even as the country faced an order from a top European rights court to free the Kremlin's most prominent foe.

Earlier this month, Navalny was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for violating terms of his probation while convalescing in Germany.

He appealed the sentence and asked to be released.

A Moscow City Court judge instead reduced the prison sentence to just over two-and-a-half years, deducting a month-and-a-half that Navalny spent under house arrest in early 2015.

(Image Credit: AP)