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Court upholds Navalny’s sentence in case of libel against WWII veteran

Navalny participated in the hearing via video conference from detention in a penal colony

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Moscow’s Babushkinsky Court upheld the sentence to blogger Alexey Navalny over the case of libel against World War II veteran Ignat Artyomenko.

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"Uphold the magistrate’s court sentence without amendments; leave the defense’s complaints without satisfaction," the judge said, adding that the sentence enters effect.

Navalny participated in the hearing via video conference from detention in a penal colony. His wife Yulia attended the hearing, but left before the sentence was announced.

On February 20, Navalny was sentenced to a fine of 850,000 rubles for libel. Navalny posted a video in his Telegram channel showing a World War II veteran expressing his position to the Constitutional Amendments. The blogger accompanies the video with comments, that were deemed "intentionally false and damaging the veteran’s honor, dignity and reputation." Navalny did not acknowledge his guilt.

The blogger’s defense already stated its intention to challenge the sentence in a higher court.

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