MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny’s suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher embezzlement case has been converted to 3 years and 6 months behind bars, TASS reports from the courtroom.

"Despite the preventive measures taken with him, Navalny repeatedly violated his deadlines for reporting to the inspection. The court considers the motion of the [Russian] Federal Penitentiary Service to be satisfied," judge Natalya Repnikova announced the decision.

Navalny will serve his time in medium-security prison. According to preliminary reports, the opposition figure will be behind bars for two and a half years, taking into account one year he was placed under house arrest during the preliminary investigation in the Yves Rocher case.

The court ruling notes that the Navalny defense team’s position that he did not conceal his whereabouts from the Federal Penitentiary Service agencies and was getting treatment in Germany is dismissed because he had repeatedly violated his probation terms even before the hospitalization. "The ECHR arguments ruling that the verdict was wrongful cannot be taken into account because it [ECHR] found procedural violations when hearing the case but did not speak about the essence of the Zamoskvoretsky Court’s verdict," the decision reads.

TASS reports that Navalny was trying to smile as the judge read out the verdict, while his wife Yulia who was also in the courtroom burst into tears.