Russian court finds opposition figure Alexei Navalny guilty of fraud

A Russian court has found the nation’s opposition figure Alexei Navalny guilty on embezzlement charges

Prosecutors are seeking to have him sent to a maximum-security penal colony for 13 years on charges of fraud and contempt of court.

Navalny is already serving a two-and-a-half year sentence near Moscow for parole violations.

These were related to charges that he believes were to gag him as a political opponent of President Vladimir Putin.

His national movement has been labelled “extremist” and shut down by the Kremlin.

But he has continued to issue messages on social media from prison through his legal team and aides recently urging Russians to oppose the war in Ukraine.

It comes as Russia’s Ministry of Defence repeatedly claims it is not targeting civilians in the nation.

We spoke to Human Rights Watch researcher Richard Weir about the scale of violence unfolding in Ukraine.

“We’re seeing continued attacks by Russian forces that violate the laws of war,” he says.

“We’re talking about indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilian populated areas with weapons that do an incredible amount of harm.”