Russian court convicts top Putin foe for five years in fraud trial

A Russian court has convicted Alexei Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics, of embezzlement for five years.

Judge Sergei Blinov found Navalny guilty of colluding to steal money in a timber deal while acting as an unpaid advisor to the local government in the northern Kirov region, the Courier Mail reports.

According to the report, Blinov said that the court has established that Navalny organized the criminal act and led the execution of this large-scale embezzlement.