Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, has been condemned to two years and eight months in a prison colony on charges he violated the terms of his probation while he was recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning.
The UK demanded the "immediate and unconditional release" of the 44-year-old - as well as protesters and journalists arrested over the past two weeks - following the sentencing.
The Kremlin critic’s prison sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that he has rejected as fabricated.
Mr Navalny was arrested last month after returning from Berlin where he spent five months recovering from a poisoning he has blamed on the Kremlin – an accusation the Russian authorities deny.
Hundreds of people were arrested on Tuesday after Mr Navalny’s backers gathered outside the court.
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